A top adviser on animal welfare has hit out at the seven-year delay in amending animal protection laws.
Anthony James, chairman of the Animal Welfare Advisory Group, said the body had been pressing for a revision of the Protection of Animals Ordinance since 1999, when the government asked for its comments to update the law.
'After that initial enlightened action, the revision [of the law] was buried and has been continually buried since then,' said Dr James, who is also director of the Chinese University's Laboratory Animal Services Centre.
He said members of the advisory group had been frustrated by the government's 'consistent stonewalling' of their efforts to have the law amended.
The ordinance, which empowers officers to prosecute offenders who cause unnecessary suffering to animals, was last amended in 1979.
Last month, the government proposed that the maximum fine be increased from $5,000 to $100,000 and the maximum jail sentence from six months to a year. But Dr James said the proposal did not go far enough, and urged the administration to carry out a more comprehensive review to enable the law to keep up with the times.