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SCMP Reporter

Pet owners can look forward to walking their four-legged friends in a new dog park on the North Point promenade.
The park, next to the North Point pier near Kam Hong Street  on the former grounds of North Point Estate,  is being renovated and is due to open shortly, the government said.
Formerly a tree-lined path with benches and exercise facilities, it is being widened into a dog park with stone walls and sand pools. Morning strollers  will still be welcome  but  will have to share  the park with the animals. The new amenity comes after the pet-friendly park along the Wan Chai promenade closed in late January to make way for construction of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass.
Eastern District councillor Desmond Lee Yu-tai  said although the government had told the council that the park was temporary, he believed it would be kept. 
'When you have given people something, it will be hard to take it back,' he said.
A spokeswoman of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it would offer  an alternative for pet owners living in Wan Chai and Eastern districts. 
She was not worried that local residents would oppose the opening. 
'Look at [the park at] Wan Chai promenade. It was clean, and even non-pet owners loved going there,' she said. 'The park helped build up a reputation of Hong Kong pet owners having self-discipline.'
Tsoi Hiu-wing, who has been living in North Point for over two decades, said it was good to have a pet park, since many of her neighbours were dog owners. 'North Point and the Eastern District in general lack such facilities. Many people just walk their dogs in the streets. It is good to have a place where they can gather,' she said.
But Ching On-yi, who passes by the North Point promenade every morning when she walks to work, said the park might be a hassle for local residents. 
'I have been to other dog parks; they do not smell good and sometimes you see liquid on the ground,' she said. 
She said she might avoid  the park if there were too many dogs.  
Covering 570 square metres,  the North Point pet corner  will be only a fraction of the size of the one that was in Wan Chai. Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor  said earlier that the Wan Chai park might be reinstated after completion of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass.
Meanwhile, the society said it would try to persuade the government to convert larger areas, such as Victoria Park, into pet-friendly parks.  
A government spokeswoman said another pet garden would be built in the Tai Hang Drive Sitting-out Area  in Wan Chai. 
Pets are allowed in about a dozen parks across the city, including Victoria Peak Garden  in Western, Yau Tsim Mong Pet Garden  in Ferry Street, Kowloon Tsai Park  in Kowloon City and the Sheung Wan promenade in Central and Western District. 




Four-legged strollers to get park at North Point promenade