Editorial | Hong Kong needs to fully embrace guide dogs
- The city took too long to accept guide dogs, animals that can transform the lives of their owners. It should now ensure they can fully meet the needs of the visually impaired community
The substantial benefits guide dogs bring to their visually impaired owners have long been recognised. But the use of these valuable animals in Hong Kong has faced many obstacles over the years and challenges remain. An initial attempt to introduce them to the city ended in tragedy in 1976 when a guide dog was hit by a minivan and killed.
This led to a report concluding Hong Kong was too noisy and crowded for such animals. Surprisingly, we had to wait until 2012 before guide dogs returned.
There are now 50 of them in Hong Kong, but this is far from enough. It is estimated 1,900 are needed to meet the needs of the city’s 190,000 visually impaired people. A guide dog training school opened in December and seven locally bred puppies were born the same month. But charity Hong Kong Seeing Eye Dog Services has highlighted a chronic shortage of foster families for puppies.
Eligible families with suitable homes are needed to temporarily care for young dogs who will later receive intensive training and, if suitable, be matched with visually impaired owners. Families must include a male and female host with no pet dog of their own and no more than one child under five years old.
Some foster families have left Hong Kong. Others can no longer participate because they need to return to offices rather than working from home as they did during the pandemic. More volunteers are urgently needed.