(HK) Pet lovers demand tougher action on abuse

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South China Morning Post

CITY3

By Colleen Lee 2008-01-14

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Pet lovers demand tougher action on abuse

 

Pet lovers want police to step up enforcement of laws against animal abuse.

 

In a survey by the Democratic Party and animal rights concern group

Animal Earth, 65 per cent of 1,682 respondents said they wanted more

police teams assigned to investigate cases of animal cruelty and

abandonment.

 

The telephone survey was conducted between December 22 and January 3.

 

About 33 per cent of respondents were pet owners.

 

Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, a dog owner, said: Police

resources and resolve to combat animal abuse are far from enough.

 

He has proposed a motion urging the government to step up animal

protection measures. It will be discussed in the Legislative Council on

Wednesday.

 

In 2006, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill was

passed to increase the maximum penalties for animal cruelty to three

years' jail and a fine of up to HK$200,000.

 

But 79.7 per cent of respondents to the poll said penalties should be

increased further.

 

Animal Earth founder and chief officer David Wong Kai-yan said there was

a need for increased police enforcement of the law.

 

 

Mr Wong said that in May 2006, Tai Po residents had found the bodies of

two kittens on a staircase in a public housing block in Tai Wo Estate

and reported the case to him.

 

The cats were just one to two months' old and appeared to have been

tortured to death, he said. I called police immediately and they asked

the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to deploy officers to

clean up the place as soon as they arrived.

 

I thought it was inappropriate as they had not taken any pictures or

searched for fingerprints. There were two bloodied stones on the

staircase and I asked investigators to pick them up for checks. But they

refused.

 

Police took no pictures and collected no evidence, he said.

 

Mr Wong said he and police watched a security video of the scene at the

estate management office which recorded three teenagers striking the

cats with an umbrella.

 

But police said the video was too blurred and they could not identify

the teens. They said it would be too irritating to knock on each door to

ask for clues ... so the case was closed a month later, he said.

 

A police spokeswoman said: Depending on the situation, individual police

districts or divisions designate an investigation team to handle animal

cruelty cases with the aim of allocating resources flexibly and to

arrest culprits as soon as possible.

 

She said there were such teams in districts like Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po.

 

From January to September last year, police handled 41 animal abuse

cases and 15 people were arrested. Copyright © 2008. South China

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