Dog rescuer urges action to stem a crisis
With few resources to call on, dog-lover Nikki Green has managed to find homes for about 400 strays and puppies in three years. But she feels her crusade to save unwanted and unloved animals will be futile unless the government takes concrete steps to stop Hong Kong's growing dog problem.
'There are far too many dogs in Hong Kong and when supply is so much greater than demand, people are not going to value dogs. Only when the government takes responsibility and limits the number of pure-breed imports will the overpopulation equal out,' said Hong Kong-born Ms Green, who is temporarily sheltering 14 dogs and 15 puppies.
Every other weekend she takes a selection of her abandoned litter into Sai Kung in the hope that among the crowds passing by Steamers pub she will find suitable owners. New owners get a dog for free but must pay HK$500 to have it neutered by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
'It's futile. I rescue them out of a sense of duty. I'd much rather just have three dogs and dedicate my energy to them because being a good dog owner is a big commitment, but I can't walk past a puppy dumped in a rubbish bin and I can't ignore the dogs waiting to die in the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department [AFCD] kennels.'
A spokesman for the department said there was no limit to the number of dogs that could be imported. He said 1,850 dogs were brought in during the first six months of the year, while 3,600 came in over the whole of last year.
However, a source close to the Animal Welfare Advisory Group estimated these figures were only 10 per cent of the true number. He said the other 90 per cent were bred and imported illegally from across the border.
The department spokesman said that of the 13,100 dogs impounded or received last year, about 750 were re-homed through non-governmental organisations such as Hong Kong Dog Rescue and the SPCA.
The SPCA said it rehomed 750 dogs last year, 150 of which had come from the department's kennels. About 11,900 dogs were put down by the department last year.
Ms Green - who is setting up an NGO called Paws for Thought with fellow Sai Kung dog-rescuer Sandy Geall - said the dog overpopulation problem would continue until the government implemented serious measures such as subsidising pet-neutering for those who can't afford it, enforcing a licensing programme for people who wish to breed dogs and backing education programmes.
She and the city's other animal-welfare NGOs set up an online forum in 2003 called No Kill that last year gave Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food York Chow Yat-ngok a list of proposals to control the problem.
These included registering all animals and microchipping before first sale/adoption, raising dog-import fees and stopping the illegal entry of pure-breed animals from across the border, and licensing pet shops. According to No Kill, after repeated attempts to set up an appointment with Dr Chow to discuss the proposals, he eventually asked department director Stella Hung Kwok Wai-ching to stand in. Mrs Hung's position was that district council approval was needed before anything could be done. No Kill members are meeting on Thursday.
