Latest news with #BuddhistMonastery
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Chef at Hong Kong monastery admits to cruelty after tying 2 dogs up in bags
A chef at a prominent Buddhist monastery in Hong Kong has pleaded guilty to three counts of animal cruelty after dragging and stuffing two dogs in nylon bags and releasing them on grounds far away from the kitchen, saying he wanted to maintain the facility's hygiene. West Kowloon Court heard on Thursday that the two stray mongrels were fed by staff at the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, with the 65-year-old defendant Ng Sing-yiu committing the offences outside the premises' Hung Uk Dormitory last year. At around noon on August 13, Ng captured the dogs, placed them in nylon bags and tied them up tightly. He then drove them to a car park in San Shek Wan, also on the island, and released the dogs there about an hour later. The dogs, known as 'Dai Mui' and 'Sai Mui' – meaning 'big sister' and 'little sister' in Chinese – are brown-and-black mongrels. The defendant said the excrement from the dogs' visits to the monastery was affecting the hygiene situation in his kitchen, the court heard. The two dogs were eventually found in September.
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- The Guardian
Birdwatch: After six decades, I finally catch up with the Alpine accentor
I was about seven years old when, in the pages of the European field guide illustrated by the legendary bird artist Roger Tory Peterson, I first came across the Alpine accentor. Something about this bulky cousin of our familiar dunnock must have clicked, because soon afterwards I was convinced I had seen one in our suburban front garden. Not just unlikely but, as I later discovered, impossible. That's because, as its name suggests, the Alpine accentor is a rare vagrant to Britain from the mountains of central and southern Europe. Never mind, I thought, I'm bound to see one somewhere on my travels. But I didn't. What made things worse was that so many of my friends – and not just birders – have come across these birds, usually at cafes in ski resorts. Then last month, almost six decades after I marvelled at Peterson's illustration, I visited a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan, high in the eastern Himalayas. And there they were, a pair of Alpine accentors: large and plump, like dunnocks on steroids. Tame as sparrows, they hopped around right in front of me, showing off their handsome grey, black and chestnut plumage. I had come to Bhutan to see some of the world's most striking and beautiful birds, such as the satyr tragopan we encountered a few minutes later. Yet finally catching up with a species I had been searching for since my childhood was, for me, the highlight of the trip. Funny old thing, birding.
