(CN - HKG) Dog abandonment

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

Love's labour's lost ... and so is the dog

By Amy Nip, Simpson Cheung and Vivian Chen

Apr 26, 2010

 

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A bust-up between lovers can often separate more than the couple - it can

also leave a pet abandoned.

 

This was one reason cited by owners who surrender their dogs or cats to the

government, something that has happened on average 11 times a day over the

past four years. A total of 16,600 pets were handed over to the Agriculture,

Fisheries and Conservation Department from 2006 to the end of last year.

 

The figure has dropped in recent years, from 4,870 in 2006 to 3,180 last

year, but that may just be because more are being handed over to

non-governmental agencies.

 

" We don't have as many dogs taken here as we used to, " an employee at the

department's animal management centre said. " Today, people prefer to drop

their unwanted pets at animal welfare groups, such as the Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or Hong Kong Dog Rescue. "

 

Most dogs brought there are old - some of them have stayed with their owners

for as long as eight years, the employee said.

 

Financial difficulties and pet illnesses were among the reasons for owners

to give them up, the department said.

 

At least two dog owners who visited the department's Kowloon animal

management centre in Sung Wong Toi Road yesterday gave up or planned to give

up their pets. One of them, Fong Fu-nin, 49, who has kept a 12-year-old

mongrel for 10 years, wanted to give up his dog because of its old age and

blindness.

 

" I just want somebody to adopt it, " the owner of two dogs said. " I know some

foreigners would like to take animals even if they are blind. "

 

But he said he would think twice after learning that his dog could be put

down immediately.

 

Another man, who declined to give his name, had just left his dog at the

centre. He said he did not want his pet because he had received complaints

from his neighbours.

 

Welfare groups cite other reasons such as lovers' arguments and a dog

becoming aggressive or unhappy because the owner has not walked it for

years.

 

Apart from animals surrendered directly by owners, many pets abandoned in

the streets also turn up in government kennels.

 

The department does not keep track of how many animals are abandoned, but a

report by the Audit Department shows 19 per cent of 113 stray dogs it

examined were likely to have been abandoned by the owners who refused to

reclaim them.

 

According to the Rabies Ordinance, an owner who refuses to reclaim a dog may

be prosecuted for abandonment or improper control of the animal. Both

offences are subject to a maximum fine of HK$10,000, but anyone convicted of

abandonment can be imprisoned for up to six months.

 

From 2007 to last year, the department has brought abandonment charges in

only two cases, with one conviction. A further 246 were prosecuted for the

lesser offence of improper control.

 

It is difficult to prove that people abandon their pets wilfully, which is

necessary to charge them with the offence, the department says.

 

" We will consult the Department of Justice with a view to addressing the

difficulties in taking prosecution action against pet keepers who have

breached the law, " a spokesman said.

 

Promotion and education in public and in schools for responsible pet

ownership have been stepped up, he said.

 

Hong Kong Dog Rescue founder Sally Anderson agreed that fewer pets were

being to given to the government because more were turning up at a growing

number of animal groups. " If they give a pet to us, we will not kill it, "

she said adding that most dogs in government kennels end up being put down.

 

The department caught and received 15,600 dogs and cats last year and put

down 10,320 of them.

 

Many owners are not properly prepared for keeping a dog, Anderson said,

citing an owner who kept an 18-month-old golden retriever in a 300 square

foot flat and never walked it. The owner gave it to the group after it

became aggressive, not knowing its lack of proper exercise could be the

reason.

 

The economic downturn also made owners surrender their pets. According to

the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, more owners were leaving

the city for jobs elsewhere and gave up their pure-bred dogs in the fourth

quarter of last year.

 

The SPCA receives about 1,000 animals a year.

 

Staff from another group, the Society for Abandoned Animals, said it

received calls from about six owners who wanted to hand over their pets

every day.

 

Many people living on estates that ban keeping pets give them up when they

are forced to do so, groups said. For the past three months, 17 per cent of

dogs taken to the government's animal management centre on Hong Kong Island

had been evicted from public housing, Audit Commission statistics show.

 

Except for owners who registered their dogs before August 2003, others are

forbidden from keeping theirs on public housing estates. The commission

suspects 12,949 dogs were kept in public estates without permission.

 

Allergies and giving birth to babies are other reasons cited. Pets given as

gifts between lovers are also thrown out of homes when relationships end

badly, volunteers say.

 

In order to stop more pets from ending up at kennels, people should not buy

dogs if they are waiting for a public housing flat, groups said.

 

Respect for animals has to be developed from the time people are young, and

the Education Bureau should include animal welfare in the curriculums of

schools, the SPCA said.

 

" Animals are living things. Like with their own children, owners should go

through the ups and downs with their pets instead of giving them up, "

spokeswoman Rebecca Ngan Yee-ling said.

 

The authorities should stop the smuggling of dogs from illegal sources,

which drags down the prices of pets and induced impulsive buying, she added.

 

Anderson, of Dog Rescue, said de-sexing of pets should be made compulsory.