Animal-lovers decry 'police apathy'

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

 

CITY1 | CITY | By Polly Hui 2007-11-12

 

 

 

 

 

Animal-lovers decry 'police apathy'

 

 

 

 

 

About 500 animal-lovers and their pets marched from Chater Garden to the

Central Government Offices yesterday to condemn the police for failing to

investigate abuse against stray cats and dogs.

 

 

 

Participants in the march organised by the Cat Society and Animal Earth

chanted " Cold-blooded police. Accomplices of murderers " .

 

 

 

" The officers consider animals as people's property, so their damage or loss

is not a big deal to them, " said Cat Society chairwoman Elaine Chan Ling-yi.

" Sometimes they turned around and said we were the ones breaking the law by

feeding street animals. "

 

 

 

The march comes after the discovery last month in Sheung Shui of a kitten

with its back legs missing. Ms Chan said police took no action when asked to

investigate. " All the officers did was jot down notes on a scrap of paper. "

 

 

 

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took the weeks-old

female kitten to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. But

Ms Chan said that when she and other volunteers went to see the kitten the

next day, they were told it had still to be treated by a vet.

 

 

 

So they took it to a private clinic and the kitten is in the care of the Cat

Society. A vet said it was possible someone tied the kitten's legs to stop

the blood supply and eventually its legs fell off without much blood loss.

 

 

 

The Cat Society said it had handled more than 10 cases of abuse a month.

Society volunteer May Wong May-lan said: " Every night our volunteers patrol

the back lanes of problem districts. We reported to the police after a

volunteer saw a man in Causeway Bay feeding food mixed with drugs to a group

of cats before catching them in a bag. The officers said we should be the

people collecting the evidence as they did not have the resources to cope

with animal cases. "

 

 

 

Ms Wong said the threat to strays was worrying as winter approached. " Eating

cats and dogs in cold weather remains very much a deep-rooted part of

culture, " she said.

 

 

 

A police spokesman said officers treated abuse cases seriously and would not

tolerate such crimes.

 

 

 

Ms Chan said a bigger march would be staged with other animal rights groups

in January if police had not improved their response.