Legislator Choy So-yuk is not only a tree-hugger but a pet lover. Having finalised a private member's bill that will criminalise the felling of trees with trunks wider than a specific diameter, the tireless idealist is working to protect cats and dogs in case of accidents on Hong Kong roads. To this end, the lawmaker this week demanded to know how many pets have been injured in traffic accidents and what the government and police are doing about it.
She wrote: 'Will the government inform this council: (a) of the respective estimated numbers of traffic accidents involving pets which were not in or on any vehicle in each of the past three years, and the respective numbers of each kind of pets concerned; (b) how the police handle traffic accidents involving pets which are not in or on any vehicle?'
Ms Choy is apparently concerned police handling such accidents are not required to find the animal's owner. Environment chief Sarah Liao Sau-tung took it upon herself to answer the intricate questions. You might have guessed her answers.
'We do not have the number of traffic accidents involving pets,' she wrote in a reply without a hint of irony. 'The police will take different actions according to the circumstances. They will notify the SPCA, or the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to handle injured or abandoned animals; or notify the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to handle dead animal bodies.'