(HK) Karen Mok spearheads Christmas campaign against caged dogs

[Guest guest]

Actress Karen Mok spearheads Christmas campaign against caged dogs

Fri, 21 Dec 2007

DPA

 

Hong Kong - Hong Kong actress and singer Karen Mok is spearheading a television

campaign against animal cruelty in the run up to Christmas, a time when huge

amounts of pets are abandoned as unwanted gifts. The 37-year-old features in a

30-second advertisement in which she urges people not to keep pet dogs in cages,

the Hong Kong Dog Rescue group said Friday.

 

The practice of caging pets is quite common in the former British colony, where

the majority of families live in small apartments in high-rise blocks and with

no outside space.

 

Often people are sold cages along with the animal by pets shops.

 

The advertisement, to be first screened in Chinese on TVB Jade from Saturday and

run over Christmas, shows an unhappy dog in a small cage watching animals run

around and play on television.

 

" You don't have to hit a dog to abuse it, " says Mok. " To lock your dog in a cage

is to inflict mental torture. "

 

The advertisement comes at a time when animal welfare groups are struggling to

find homes for with growing number of abandoned dogs in Hong Kong.

 

Recent government figures show up to 30 abandoned animals are being destroyed

every day because they cannot be adopted.

 

Owning dogs as pets is a relatively recent phenomenon in the city of 6.9 million

and there has been a huge rise in the number of pet shops and illicit dog

breeders in the past five years.

 

Sally Andersen of Hong Kong Dog Rescue said it was not uncommon to come across

dogs that had spent their entire lives in cages, including large breeds such as

golden retrievers.

 

" I can't think of a worse life for a dog than being kept in a cage, " she said.

 

" Watching my own dogs running and playing, and also the dogs at our Pokfulam

kennels who spend much of the time running free, the thought of the many dogs

who never enjoy this freedom and pleasure is very sad. "

 

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/162493.html

-------------------------------

The Karen Mok advertisement against caged dogs:

 

-------------------------------

Photos of Hong Kong Dog Rescue:

 

http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery-show?G_ID=G0000I2cTKHCaLak

-------------------------------

Hong Kong Dog Rescue:

 

http://www.hongkongdogrescue.com/