
Hong Kong dog shelter struggling to provide as number of animals doubles while volunteers move abroad amid pandemic
- Dogs at Sai Kung Stray Friends Foundation double during coronavirus outbreak as owners move abroad or give up their pets
- ‘For some dogs, this is their forever home,’ founder Narelle Pamuk says.
The fate of a Hong Kong dog shelter hangs in the balance as the number of animals under its care has doubled after many pet owners moved abroad while volunteers also left the city during the pandemic, leaving the foundation struggling to operate on limited manpower.
The Sai Kung Stray Friends Foundation in Tai Lam Wu village in eastern New Territories had just over 100 dogs two years ago. But the number has doubled since the pandemic began after owners left the city or suffered financial difficulties and could no longer raise their pets.
“We do everything here,” shelter founder Narelle Pamuk said. “We rescue and bring them back here, we provide their medical treatment, their healthcare and rehabilitation, right through to their adoption.”
The non-profit shelter also operates a meals-on-wheels programme, delivering food and clean water to street dogs in Sai Kung every day. These dogs are also desexed, microchipped and vaccinated. Badly injured ones will be taken back to the shelter.
Dog shelter close to financial collapse, leaving fate of 130 dogs unknown
Pamuk, who started the shelter 13 years ago, said she desperately needed more people to join as regular volunteers after many had left the city during the pandemic.
“The biggest struggle right now is having enough people to run the shelter,” she said. “We’re trying to get people to come on board to join a roster.”
The foundation previously had two paid kennel workers per day and a full-time assistant manager, but the posts were scrapped due to a lack of funds.
Pamuk and full-time kennel manager Kathy Leung Sze-man now manage all of the operations and share tasks with five part-time volunteers.

Volunteers come anywhere from a few hours a day to multiple times a week. They help walk, feed and clean the dogs, as well as prepare food, provide medication and clean the kennels.
Retiree John Shanahan lives in Sai Kung and is at the shelter three mornings a week to walk 20 to 30 dogs for three to four hours.
“[The walks] help to socialise them and it gives people an opportunity to assess the dogs if they want to adopt or foster them,” the 68-year-old said.
Each dog in the shelter is walked for 15 minutes a day. Pamuk said she would love for them to get longer walks, but with so many animals and limited volunteers, it just was not possible.
A multitude of other jobs await. Every day, over 60 kennels need to be washed while dogs’ bedding needs to be laundered too.

Then there is the mammoth and laborious task of feeding the dogs. Every animal gets a specially prepared meal each day: the staff boil 30kg to 40kg of chicken breast every day, then mix that with kibble and vegetables that are donated by a restaurant in Central.
The monthly bill for the chicken alone can be upwards of HK$30,000 (US$3,822) a month, while medical bills vary from HK$50,000 to HK$100,000 a month.
Without more volunteers, the shelter has been unable to host more regular, one-off educational and community programmes for schools and corporations, events that once provided a valuable source of donations.
‘Heartbreaking’: Hong Kong dog shelters may not survive pandemic
“I don’t have the manpower to accept all the group bookings who want to visit,” Pamuk said. “And it’s really a shame because people love to come here, but we don’t have enough people to host them.”
The shelter will be further strained when Desiree van der Hoeven, a volunteer of nearly four years, moves to Portugal to be with her parents.
The retiree said the work at the shelter was hard and tiring but also rewarding.
“[When I first came] I saw the dedication and the love of this shelter and I just wanted to help give back,” she said. “I started coming only one afternoon on Tuesday and then again on Saturday, and now I’m here three days a week.”

Susie Blackburn, 50, drives from Shek O on the south of Hong Kong Island to Sai Kung every Friday morning to volunteer a few hours walking dogs.
“It’s so fun to be here and it’s really lovely to see how happy it made my daughter,” Blackburn said. “It becomes kind of infectious when you spend a bit of time here.”
Despite the uncertainty ahead, Pamuk said she was determined to run the shelter for as long as she could.
“For some dogs, this is their forever home. We know some will never be adopted and we’re a commitment to them for their lives,” she said. “We make sure every dog has a better life. And I always say every dog that comes through my gate is the lucky dog.”

