More than 20,000 homeless animals killed every year could be saved if the government adopted a no-kill policy, says Jennie Fung Man-chi, the spokesperson for the Hong Kong No Kill City Forum, which hosts its first public event this coming Sunday Many western countries don't have pets in pet shops. They only sell accessories. They have respected breeders and they control their breeding and import of pets. Hong Kong has none of these. We have no laws to prevent people reeding puppies and cats and selling them. In other countries you would have to be registered. A pet shop needs a licence, but if you are just advertising in pet magazines, you don't need one. The no-kill policy has been very successful in the United States. The Hong Kong No Kill City Forum started as a Yahoo forum group a couple of years ago and has been pushing the idea so we can reach zero surplus, which means no homeless pets. Every year over 20,000 animals - dogs, cats, rabbits and whatever animals people choose to dump on the government - are killed using taxpayers' money. The government uses the word 'euthanised', but this is the wrong word. 'Euthanised' as a word should only apply to animals that are killed because they are terminally ill, as a way out of their suffering. But these animals are not sick. They only lack a home. That is why they are killed. There are five things the no-kill policy covers. The first is responsible pet ownership, which means owners should de-sex their animals. The second is construction site dogs, the third, animal birth control, or what we call trap, neuter and release (TNR) programmes for dogs and cats. The fourth is pet shop control, and the fifth, import and breeding controls. The government has been using a trap-and-kill policy for about 50 years which is inhumane and doesn't work. The number of animals being killed hasn't dropped. It has stayed high. It's not cheaper to kill. The best way is not to have all this killing. The government has four animal control centres. If they could switch from killing to de-sexing, the problem would be solved. The number of homeless animals would drop tremendously. There is a magic number. If you can de-sex 70 per cent of a colony, the population remains stable. Above that, it will decrease. About six years ago the Hong Kong Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals started a Cat Colony Care Programme to control the number of stray cats on the street. This is a TNR programme. It's been very successful, especially on Lamma. I am also a member of Lamma Animal Welfare Centre and one of our roles is running the programme. This year we saw a reduction in the number of feral cats. We are not only controlling the numbers, we are reducing them. But the government is still resisting TNR programmes. It is afraid there isn't any community support. This is the reason the forum decided to do something proactive. We need to deliver the message to the general public. About two months ago we registered as an organisation and have the support of several NGOs. Sunday's event will be our first public event. We will be introducing the policy and what it is all about. There will be booths with games, exhibitions, dramas, talks and a petition booth so we can collect signatures of people who support the no-kill policy. We don't plan to do any fund-raising. We don't want to create another animal welfare group to compete for the limited funding. We just want to get the public to understand the no-kill policy and get the government to agree to it.' The 'Making Hong Kong a No Kill City' event is being held on Sunday at the New World Centre Plaza from 2pm to 5pm. Details are available at www.hknokillcity.org