How Hong Kong ‘buffalo whisperer’ went from yelling and crazy to happy tending to animals

My sister saw a ghost in that house, but I never saw any.

Glass act

My parents’ relationship wasn’t good because they were very poor, had many children and had to work hard. They always argued.

I went to Cheung Chau Government School. When my older sister was 14, she started working in a factory, sewing underwear. I didn’t want to be a factory girl, so I studied enough to be able to stay in school.

My father learned how to make and fit windows and became known as “Glass Leung”. When people on Lantau built a new house, they called my dad to fit the windows.

My elder brother started working with my dad. In the holidays, us kids helped dad carry the glass to the work site. When we got there, we’d play in the waterfalls, pick papaya and guava from the trees and swim in the sea.

Fighting girl

The gang leader was very old. He sat beside a tree and when people passed him, they greeted him as “Grandfather number nine” out of respect. When I was a child and passed him with my father, I refused to do that. People couldn’t believe I dared to do that, they thought I was crazy.

When I got angry, I could be really crazy. I became known as “fighting girl” because I would fight the boys.

Suckers for punishment

We didn’t have telephones in those days. I used to write down messages from customers and pass them on to my dad. We had a good relationship.

I was tall. As a nine-year-old I looked like a 12-year-old and perhaps I was also a little pretty.

When I was in primary school, I was the boss girl and had five or six boys following me. If I ever did something wrong and the teacher wanted to cane me, one of the boys would offer to take the punishment.

Meeting Thomas

I graduated from high school in 1971. My mother pushed me to get a job. I didn’t want to work in a factory, so I got a job at Wing On Department Store.

It was there that a friend explained that jobs were advertised in the classified section of the newspaper. I liked drawing, so I applied for a job as a draughtsman at a company in Man Yee Building, in Central.

I earned HK$150 a month and gave HK$100 to my mother, which left me just HK$50 for my ferry ticket, lunch and clothes.

My boss didn’t like us to eat in the office, so I took my lunch to an office downstairs. That was where I met Thomas, who ran an architecture firm. He was 15 years older than me. He suggested I work for his company and offered to pay me more.

Thomas yelled at everyone, but he was very good to me. He was married and had children. His wife wanted to move to Canada, but he didn’t, and they fought a lot. Thomas separated from his wife and she and the kids moved to Canada.

Seeing red

In 1975, I went to Canada with Thomas and for a while I ran a shop on Main Street in Vancouver selling baby clothes and things. It was quiet and there weren’t many customers. Thomas drove me to and from the shop and he’d go and see his children in between.

I didn’t like Canada. One day I crossed the road when the pedestrian light was red. An old man yanked me back with the hook of his umbrella and told me off. That made me angry.

After just over a year, I got some money from my auntie in Toronto and bought a ticket back to Hong Kong. A week later, Thomas came back to Hong Kong.

Jack of all trades

I saved some money and bought a flat in Mui Wo for HK$270,000. I paid a 10 per cent down payment and Thomas paid the mortgage.

In 1982, the property market dropped, and Thomas’ business didn’t do so well. I went to work for Tong Kee Engineering as a contractor. I controlled the budget for the building costs.

After five years, I really understood the business. I did many jobs: I oversaw the contractors, drew up plans and worked out what materials we needed, went to Wan Chai, on Hong Kong Island, to choose mosaic tiles, took care of the insurance and managed the payroll.

Budding tycoon

In 1988, I got an offer to help someone build a house on Cheung Fu Street, on South Lantau Road. I was very happy that Lunar New Year.

Thomas pushed me to learn about property law and I got my property agent’s licence in 1996. We rebuilt and repaired houses on that site, earning a salary and a bonus. With that money, I built five houses in Shap Long, a village on Lantau Island, on land that Thomas negotiated from the government.

Over time, I bought shares in more of the houses. I used all my money, even my under-the-bed money, and sold all the land I’d bought very cheaply and used it to build houses.

Till death us do part

When I retired, I was living with Thomas in a big house in Chi Ma Wan, on Lantau, and we had 13 dogs.

In 2009, a buffalo with a broken leg came into my garden. I didn’t want to call the AFCD (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department) because they’d put him down, so, with the help of a vet friend, I looked after him.

I called him Ngau Ngau and tended to his wound every day and brought him leaves, grass and bananas. He really liked oranges and apples, so I went to the market at the end of the day and got the leftover spoiled fruit.

I told Ngau Ngau I’d look after him forever. After a year, his leg healed, and he left my garden and went to the nearby Pui O wetlands.

At the time, the locals would hit the buffalo if they went near their farms or gardens, so I painted his horns yellow so that everyone would know he was my boy. I kept my promise to Ngau Ngau. I looked after him and fed him 30 pounds of food every day until he died last year.

Tending the herd

Thomas said to me, “Only look after one [buffalo], you are not Superwoman.” But when I went to feed Ngau Ngau on the wetlands, I saw other buffalo that were injured.

I saw a baby calf die during birth and no one cared, it made me so sad. I began looking after the injured buffalo, giving them food and spraying medicine on their wounds.

Thomas became very sick a few years ago. He spent a year and four months in the Hong Kong Sanatorium. It cost HK$5 million and he was still very unwell, so two years ago he went to Canada to get medical treatment.

Daring to dream

Some people like the buffalo and some people don’t. If you don’t like them, never mind, but don’t hurt them.

Looking after these animals takes up much of my time but I have support to look after them, people help me buy food and medicine.

I can’t bring them a good future, I can only help them enjoy life now.

Buffalo whisperer

Many of the buffalo have known me since they were young, and they really love me. The male buffalo especially love me because I take care of their wounds after they’ve been fighting.

Some people call me the “buffalo whisperer” because the buffalo understand what I say. If I tell a buffalo to go to a certain place at a certain time to feed him, he will be there.

Before the buffalo, I only followed Thomas. I yelled at contractors, looked after my dogs and perhaps I looked like a crazy woman, but when I started looking after the buffalo, I felt really happy.

I get so much joy from helping them when they are sick or injured. People tell me that the buffalo are lucky to have me, but I say that I’m lucky I have the buffalo.