Cat Society Founder Elaine Chan
Elaine Chan is one of the founders of the Cat Society, a group that rescues injured alley cats. She talks to June Ng about her hunt for the cat serial killer.
HK Magazine: Who is this cat serial killer? Any ideas?
Elaine Chan: The killer who’s active in Mongkok is very sneaky. He only comes out sometime between 2am-5am, when the volunteers have finished feeding the street cats and the shops around aren’t open yet. It’s almost impossible to find witnesses in alleys at that time. We’ve thought about setting up a patrol team, but all the volunteers have full-time jobs and it’s hard to find a feasible schedule. Plus, most of us are girls… We’ve also thought of installing CCTV cameras, but it’s too expensive to wire the alleys properly.
HK: Shouldn’t this be a job for the police?
EC: Honestly we don’t really rely on the police to investigate animal cruelty. This serial abuse has been around for a few years, but the police wouldn’t give a damn until the press started talking about it. I think we’re more systematic in handling these cases than they are.
HK: What’s inspired you to do something about these cats?
EC: Cats are funny creatures. Once you have one, you can’t help yourself from getting more. I realized I could do more few years ago, when I was helping a friend take care of his sick cat. Then I met the other three founders of the Cat Society online. We all used to be independent volunteers, but then we realized it’s really hard to go on by yourself without forming a group, so we established this society last year. Apart from taking care of abused animals, we also provide cat adoption.
HK: Is there a peak season for adoption?
EC: We’re always busy before Christmas. Some people come to us out of the blue, saying they want to adopt a cat as a gift, which is wrong and we always turn them down. On the contrary, it’s always quiet before the Lunar New Year. But I can tell you that the baby boom for cats is usually in April and July; we always receive more kittens around then.
HK: Some people say ordinary house cats are friendlier than purebred ones. What do you think?
EC: No it’s not true, but house cats should be smarter. Purebred cats have a higher instance of recessive diseases. Especially in Hong Kong, many breeders just think of how to maximize their profits and they allow inbreeding.
HK: Are cats happy in Hong Kong?
EC: It depends on how they are treated. And what’s the definition of “good treatment”? We once helped an old lady re-home her 16 cats, all adults. She loved her cats but she was living in a public housing estate. I can only say if cats meet responsible owners who will take care of them until the very end of their lives, they should be happy.