Electricity supplier CLP Power will expand measures aimed at preventing wildlife, such as monkeys and birds, from being accidentally electrocuted on its power lines in the co

untryside.

The measures - which include putting power cables inside insulated tubes, installing bird spikes that make landing and nesting difficult, and installing insulated covers on transformers - have proved a success after they were introduced in areas considered "high risk" because of wildlife populations.

The company said accidents happened when wild animals, mostly monkeys, climbed 9-metre wooden power poles and came into contact with cables and transformers, receiving electric shocks of 11,000 volts, 50 times stronger than that from a domestic power point.

The poles, and the giant steel cable towers, are part of CLP Power's electricity distribution system across the New Territories and Kowloon.

In 2005, a monkey was electrocuted after it climbed a power pole on Needle Hill and broke a cable, causing a small hill fire.

Cheng Chin-pang, CLP Power's asset development manager, said they found wild monkeys were more interested in wooden poles, which might be mistaken for trees, than the steel cable towers.

"Perhaps they don't like climbing cable towers, which do not look like trees," he said, adding that there were about 2,000 wild monkeys in Hong Kong, many of them living near Needle Hill and Kam Shan.

Mr Cheng said the enhanced protective measures had been introduced in more than 40 high-risk places, such as Tai Po, Shek Lei Pui and Yuen Long. They now planned to extend them to areas considered low risk, like Sai Kung and Lantau.