Government plans to amend law requiring licences for sheep farming in New Territories; Tse Chin-wan stresses it is not about building a sheep farming industry

The government plans to amend the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Cattle, Sheep and Goats) Keeping Regulation to extend its scope to the New Territories, requiring licences for keeping sheep, goats and cattle, with grazing prohibited without approval. Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan stressed that the amendment is not intended to establish a sheep farming industry. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department proposed introducing an "exemption permit" for keeping no more than 10 animals, with the number approved according to the space of the premises and facilities for sewage and waste treatment.