Animal welfare laws must be brought up to date
Pets are our companions and friends. We feel happy and safe when we're with them; it's a feeling that we assume is mutual. Sadly, if dogs, cats, rabbits and the myriad other creatures we keep could talk, we'd hear a different story from many of them. As much as some of us may like to think of them as equal members of the family, they are, in the eyes of the law, the dumbest of beasts.
That's made clear by animal welfare laws and regulations that have barely changed since 1935. Penalties for cruelty are insignificant, pet shops get away with practices that are outlawed elsewhere and there are no restrictions on who can take up breeding. Licensing and enforcement aren't taken seriously enough by officials.
The facts speak for themselves: pets kept in cages that are so small that they can barely turn around in them; unlicensed shops that face a maximum fine of just HK$2,000; a government audit finding that at least 86,000 dog licences expired and were not renewed; and distressingly, the 85 per cent of the 15,600 stray dogs and cats caught last year by Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officers that went unclaimed and were consequently killed. Among them were surely some of the 11 pets that are abandoned each day.
As appalling as such figures are, it is also true that pets in Hong Kong have generally never been treated better. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals gets 40,000 calls about welfare each year - more than ever - but it's a matter of growing awareness, not worsening abuse. Animals for food are put to death with greater humanity. Dogs were once viewed as good only for guarding property and therefore expendable; they are now pets and loved.
But while pets now play an important part in the lives of hundreds of thousands of families, attitudes still need to shift. Our anti-cruelty laws need to be brought up to date - they need not only to protect against suffering, but prevent it. Pets shouldn't be sold like handbags or shoes and treated by owners in the same way. Public education led by a government dedicated to safeguarding animals will rid our city of the ignorance that still exists.
