Animal-lovers demand end to killing of strays

South China Morning Post，2010/8/22

More than 200 animal-lovers marched to the Central Government Offices yesterday to voice their anger at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, accusing it of cruelty to stray animals in its care.

Models wore tattered clothes with nooses dangling from their necks to illustrate what they say is the fate that awaits many of Hong Kong's animals at the hands of the department. Others were dressed as executioners and an Angel of Death, with a picture of the department director Alan Wong Chi-kong on it, was used as a backdrop while speeches took place.

"We want to show the department that they need to change the way they do things. Taxpayers' money is being used to kill these stray animals and we want it to stop," said one of the event organisers, April Leung.

"People must be better educated about how to look after their pets. There should be a much better adoption system in the AFCD for animals and there should be more co-operation with NGOs."

The animal lovers also voiced their outrage about a recent video on YouTube that showed a stray dog being violently subdued by a department officer.

STOP! Save Hong Kong's Cats and Dogs, an NGO, said that Hong Kong's stray animal population could be drastically reduced with a "trap, neuter and release" programme, similar to those successfully used in Singapore and Thailand.

For the past five years STOP! and other animal rights activists have unsuccessfully called for the Hong Kong government to adopt this programme.

STOP! claimed that April's government audit report showed that the department had spent HK$30 million annually on catching 12,000 to 13,000 stray dogs and put down 90 per cent of them.

Jennifer McCombie, vice-chairman of STOP!, said: "We cannot allow the department to waste taxpayers' money on the trap-and-kill model. The problem is only getting worse, so we need to find a better approach."

STOP! and animal rights organisations want to bring to an end to procedures that see 26,000 cats and dogs killed in Hong Kong every year. They believe the way to do this is to stop the problem at its source by using education, activism, closing down illegal pet stores and desexing.

Dog owner Gilda Ho said: "We have set up our own Facebook page to highlight this issue; over 600 people are now on it. Many have strong feelings about this and want to see these animals taken better care of."

The department could not be contacted for comment.

By John Carney