'Our pets are being poisoned'
PET owners on Lamma claim their dogs are being poisoned as part of a hate campaign by locals.
One animal lover says she can no longer bear to stay on the island after two of her dogs were killed last week.
''I cannot stay with this much hatred and violence,'' said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous. ''I have lived in Hong Kong for 22 years and I have never felt so threatened.'' Lamma police have set up a series of meetings with village headmen to try to defuse the situation, while the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is campaigning for paraquat, a herbicide used to poison the dogs, to be banned from the territory.
''I came to Lamma seven years ago because I valued the nature and friendly atmosphere here, but that has all changed,'' said the woman.
''So much is happening on the island, there is more development and more people, and this is leading to a great deal of animosity. I have seen one man taunt my dogs with a large stick on several occasions.'' She believes one of her dogs was poisoned with paraquat and the other with a cyanide-based rat poison.
''I loved my dogs and they died in the worse possible way, they were in so much agony I had to have them put down.'' She admitted it was possible that some of the deaths could be down to dogs wandering on to farmland and eating poisoned meat meant for vermin. ''But my dogs never left the vicinity of the house and I am sure they were poisoned here,'' she said.
Paraquat attacks the liver, lungs and kidney causing a long and painful death which can take up to 10 days.
In the past month expats say six dogs and two cats have been poisoned, with five of the dogs dying in the past 11 days.
Lamma police admit there is a problem, one which has affected the island for many years. ''There has been a recent spate of poisonings and we are advising owners to keep their dogs under control,'' said Inspector Richard Price, a dog lover and RSPCA member.
''We have a problem whereby local people get annoyed by their neighbour's dogs barking and unfortunately they take the law into their own hands, rather than coming to us.
''I abhor cruelty to animals and poisoning a dog is against the law. We will work with village representatives to calm people down. If anyone has a complaint about a dog, then I strongly advise they come to the police.
''I want people to know how dangerous paraquat is. Not only does it kill animals, but it kills children as well. I would like to see this poison banned.'' RSPCA chief superintendent Dennis Jones said: ''Paraquat is an evil drug and should be banned. As we have seen on Lamma, it is being used illegally to kill dogs and cats and that should not be allowed to carry on.''
