Hong Kong sees Year of Snake as bountiful year, snakes beg to differ
HONG KONG, Jan 14 (AFP) -
As Hong Kong prepares to welcome the auspicious year of the snake, businessmen are optimistic of brisk business -- but the omens are less favourable for the scaly reptiles themselves.
Business in the year of the snake, beginning January 24, one of the 12 zodiac creature-themed years of the Chinese lunar calendar, is expected to be good, said Ching Pui, chairman of Hong Kong and Kowloon Snake Merchants Association.
With Hong Kong over the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the number of snake shops here has grown to 83, up 10 percent from only a year earlier, he said.
"Young and old alike still like to consume a bowl of shredded snake meat soup," despite growing environmental concerns, he said.
"To the Chinese, snake meat is a kind of health food. It gives vigour to the body during winter time."
Many parts of the snake are used in Hong Kong, often sold at prices reflecting the territory's generally recovering economy.
The bile, blood and venom are used in traditional Chinese medicines, while the whole creature is soaked in rice wine to add the invigorating power.
Restaurant and snake shop operators said prices for snake meat had increased some 20 percent, to 40 dollars a bowl, due to strong demand for snakes on the mainland.
One kilogram (2.2 pounds) of snake meat currently fetches up to 150 Hong Kong dollars (20 US dollars) on the market.
"I have snake meat twice a week," claimed an elderly consumer at a restaurant in Hong Kong Island's Wanchai district, where he had joined others for the traditional annual snake meat feast, usually organised by community groups.
"Look, I don't even need thick winter clothing," he said, while others joined him in a chorus of praise for the snakes, which are believed to bring good fortune in the new lunar year.
Snake meat is traditionally consumed during the cold season not only in Hong Kong, but also in mainland China, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan.
During the past year, Hong Kong has imported around 300,000 kilograms of snake, up 10 percent from a year earlier.
Although the majority of snakes consumed in Hong Kong are not endangered species, conservationists warn that over-harvesting wild snakes could have disastrous consequences for the environment.
"Hong Kong's consumption of snake meat is not that significant, compared to China or elsewhere in the region, where snakes are harvested in an unsustainable way," said Paul Crow, conservation officer at the territory's Kadoorie Farm nature research centre.
He cited the protected king cobra, occasionally sold here, as at risk.
But Y. K. Chan of Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), said snake meat eaten in Hong Kong was mostly from 10 common species, which were not under protection.
In better news for the creatures, snakes are also increasingly being kept as pets in crowded Hong Kong.
According to AFCD figures, the number of imported pythons rose to 984 in the first 11 months of last year, double the figure in 1999, while pet cobras surged to 1,045 over same period from just 200 in 1999.
Kadoorie Farm receives an average of 600 snakes a year. Some have escaped from snake shops or found their way unwittingly into urban areas, but many have been abandoned by their owners.
After treatment and rehabilitation they are released to a wildlife protection region in China.
For those born in the year of the snake -- 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, and 2001 -- astrologers see a bountiful year.
Astrologer Li Ching-Chak forecasts the Year of Snake will witness a full economic recovery at the end of the year, "bringing new development and breakthroughs, particularly in new businesses."
"The whole economy will gradually improve," he was cited by Oriental Daily News as saying.
Famous people born in the year of snake include Picasso, Abraham Lincoln, Mao Tse-tung, Ferdinand Marcos, John F. Kennedy, and Indira Gandhi to name a few.
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