HK Alley Cat Watch works together with 11 other animal welfare group to help rehome animals that are surrendered to the government Centre (AFCD- Agricultural & Fisheries Department).
Owners who surrender their cats, sometimes assume that homes will be found. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Only 600 out of over 12,000 animals a year come out of the government kennels alive. So any animal that is sent there is ultimately destroyed. Out of the tiny 600, HK Dog Rescue rehome the majority of the dogs that come out of their alive, and HKACW has taken over 30 cats since the beginning of this year 2010. I will collate the exact figures for this year to date and post up again shortly.
* Fact - Dogs that are unsuitable for rehoming are sent from the SPCA to the AFCD. To clarify, any dog or cat that is unsuitable for rehoming, if picked up on the street is likely to end up at the AFCD. The SPCA by law must send the dogs to AFCD if they are unsuitable for rehoming. Even if the rescuer who brought them in wants to adopt them, the animal will be sent to the AFCD, and the AFCD must then assess the animal by one of their inhouse vets to then be given the approval to come through the adoption system via one of the 11 animal welfare groups. If one of the 11 groups agree to take on the animal, the animal's life is saved. If no-one agrees to take the animals, they are destroyed. The animals could infact be destroyed at any time without our knowledge, it's entirely at their discretion. Hence why any animals approved for rehoming, need to come out of their centres ASAP.
* Fact - Friendly colonies of cats, once complained about can be rounded up, regardless of whether they are part of a registered CCCP Colony. The process is that if a cat is trapped with an ear clip, the SPCA are supposed to be informed and come to collect the cats. Bearing in mind that all cats are given 4 days before they are destroyed. So if you don't know your colony cats have gone missing (i.e. someone has seen traps being set), then there are many cats that fall through the cracks. If the AFCD inspectors don't see the ear clip or microchip, then there is a big chance the cats would be destroyed.
You can understand that once an animals goes into the "system", it's almost virtually impossible for them to come out alive.
The AFCD are working hard to improve their image with the recent you-tube video showing inspectors rounding up two dogs. In order to improve their public image, they want to increase their rehoming numbers. In doing this, this puts a lot of pressure on the 11 animal welfare groups that are only authorised to take out animals.
At present, the Govt will not allow the general public to go into their centres, as they do not operate as rehoming centre. Initially the AFCD centres were to control of diseases and to control the animal population rather than to rehome. So they don't have the resources they tell us to do this, this is why they rely on groups like us to use our adoption programmes to rehome the animals who come out of there. Hopefully only day this will change, they are making small steps, but there is so much more that needs to be done as far as selling pets, responsible pet ownership, regulations on breeders.
HK is a very materialistic country as we know, everything is about money, what's new, designer breeds etc, some people buy animals from petstores on a whim and then decide that they can't dedicate the time to look after it. It's so upsetting dealing with daily calls from people who don't want their animals anymore, it's so hard to be objective and not to judge and place blame. This is something that I struggle with every day, to try to be objective, but I can never accept the way people throw away lives without so much of a second thought but then expect someone else to take on their responsiblity. More help from the top as mentioned above in enforcing more regulations would be a big step. Killing as part of our mantra is not the long-term solution, it's a short-term fix if that.
There are 11 registered groups at the moment who are approved to take out animals:
* HK Dog Rescue
* HK Alley Cat Watch
* Lifelong Animal Protection
* SAA
* PALS
* SPCA
*Sai Kung Strays
* Mui Wo (Lantau)
*Rabbit Society
*Lamma Animal Protection
* Daschund Society ( I think I need to double check this one)
There are other individual org's that aren't registered but are able to take animals out as they have good relationships with the staff at the centres. Hopefully they will continue to allow this. We all want the number of animals killed to be decreased, so ultimately it would be better if we didn't have the animals born in the first place, one less job.
We can only hope that with their wish to increase their rehoming numbers, there are more animals welfare organisations added to rehoming programme. As most of the welfare groups are at full capacity but want to do everything they can to help save the lives of the ones who end up there. To continually take animals from them like this with no additional rescources. temporary boarding shelters and money for medical bills it really is a strain on any welfare group, which is perhaps why there are many who don't want to get involved. There are already so many unwanted animals out there in HK without accepting more from the kennels.
It's amazing to me the amount of animals who are saved and the ones who were marked down unsuitable for rehoming are given another chance and are living happy lives. Hopefully HK will sort itself out soon, space is a luxury and you need space for animals. It's not rocket science, why would you want to allow breeders to come to HK is beyond me, but then that is just my personal view, but we are the ones who have seen the hundreds of animals killed each year and have seen their faces and horror in their eyes as their fate is sealed once they are rounded up. This is the reality of it all.
It's amazing to me the amount of animals who are saved and the ones who were marked down unsuitable for rehoming are given another chance and are living happy lives. Hopefully HK will sort itself out soon, space is a luxury and you need space for animals. It's not rocket science, why would you want to allow breeders to come to HK is beyond me, but then that is just my personal view, but we are the ones who have seen the hundreds of animals killed each year and have seen their faces and horror in their eyes as their fate is sealed once they are rounded up. This is the reality of it all.
On a happier note, here are a few pictures of the cats we've helped from AFCD.
Every day 30-50 healthy animals are destroyed each year, because they were allowed to be born in the first place. bred and bought from a petshop. They were unwanted by their family, they got lost and ended up at AFCD, they were unsuitable for rehoming, their owner is allergic, they are leaving the country with no money.
Nobody wants to be unwanted, these animals don't have a choice. Stop buying animals from petstores and adopt from an animal welfare organisation who are actively saving lives every day!
Thank you.
Michelle
Visit all our animals needing homes here:
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