{"id":16127,"date":"2020-03-17T12:31:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T04:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=16127"},"modified":"2021-06-23T16:51:40","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T08:51:40","slug":"adopt-dont-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2020\/03\/adopt-dont-buy\/","title":{"rendered":"Adopt, Don\u2019t Buy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

People should adopt pets instead of buying them to safeguard animal welfare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Kassandra Lai & Savoki Zhang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cCharcoal stood out from others because it was so energetic, cheerful and tame,\u201d Veronica Chan recalls the first moment she saw her lovely dog at a carnival promoting dog adoption and responsible pet ownership two years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing with Charcoal, a three-year-old male mixed breed\ndog, for a while during the event which was supported by various animal welfare\norganisations with the Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation Department\n(AFCD), Chan made up her mind to take it home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second-year nursing student at the Chinese University\nof Hong Kong (CUHK) initially thought that pets awaiting to be adopted feared\nhuman beings and might have illnesses. But she found out they are well taken\ncare of by professionals in adoption shelters. \u201cSome people believe pets from adoption centres have behavioural problems.\nHowever, Charcoal proves them wrong,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy pets drives illegal breeding <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan adopts her pet\nsimply because she wants to save lives. \u201cI heard that some pet shops in Hong\nKong are breeding animals illegally and mistreating them,\u201d the 19-year-old student\nsays. \u201cBuying pets from pet shops may help breeders expand their business and this\nwill harm the animals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illegal traders set up breeding facilities in rural areas where dogs are bred like factory products to cash in on pet trading that is worth millions of dollars a year in Hong Kong. For example, 135 dogs and cats were found housed in 76 crates under poor living conditions suffering from serious illnesses in Tai Kok Tsui in 2013. In 2017, 101 dogs were found at a breeding house in Yuen Long where they were trapped in overlapping and filthy crates, underfed and weak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan continues that the\npractice of euthanizing pets in Hong Kong also prompts her to adopt pets. \u201cSome\nof the pet shelters in Hong Kong may euthanize animals if they can not be\nrehomed. That is really sad,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a written reply from the AFCD, the number of animals not suitable for adoption and eventually being euthanized by the AFCD rose from 2,660 in 2017 to 6,366 in 2018 but dropped to 3,419 in 2019.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\u201cThe big problem is the consumer. The illegal trade can only function if there is a demand from the consumers,\u201d says Dr. Fiona Woodhouse, deputy director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). \n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IN TERMS OF THE ETHICAL APPROACH, YOU ARE GIVING AN OPPORTUNITY FOR UNWANTED PETS TO FIND A HOME <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

says Dr. Fiona Woodhouse, deputy director of the SPCA <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law to protect animals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2017, Hong Kong government revised the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Trading and Breeding) Regulations, requiring every person who sells and breeds dog to obtain a Dog Breeder Licence and with a higher penalty from $2,000 to $100,000. The licence comes with a code of practice which details the arrangements for licensed premises and the care of a dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With stricter legislation in place, Woodhouse calls on the customers to double-check the legitimacy of breeders\u2019 licence and avoid buying animals online. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for the government to locate social media usage and private messaging,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr. Fiona Woodhouse, deputy director of the SPCA <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Amid worries that the licensing system would set a low bar of eligibility for home breeders as it relies on self-reporting system to let breeders judge by themselves whether they comply with the code of practice, Woodhouse says, \u201cthis licensing system is one of the targets in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, Sally Anderson, founder of Hong Kong Dog Rescue (HKDR), says the AFCD is understaffed and illegal breeders are still operating as they did before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some states in the United States, such as California and\nMaryland, have passed laws to prohibit pet shops from selling dogs bred in dog\nbreeding facilities \u2013 \u201cpuppy mills\u201d. They can only obtain animals from breeders\nthat meet requirements laid out in the bill. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is\nalso planning to ban third-party sales of puppies and kittens starting from\nApril 2020.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the new licensing regulation, the investigation unit of the AFCD has stepped up actions against illegal sales of dogs by looking for \u201cdog for sale\u201d advertisements on the internet and conducting regular inspections to shops selling pet accessories and offering pet-related services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to December 2019, the AFCD prosecuted 72 cases of selling animals without a license out of 695 complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measures to encourage pet adoption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a bid to encourage pet adoption, animal rights concern groups and the AFCD regularly organise events, like school seminars and holding exhibitions with celebrities. Such works have led to an increase in dog adoption from 6.4 per cent in 2010 to 17.8 per cent in 2018 and cat adoption from 12.4 per cent to 19.8 per cent, according to the Thematic Household Surveys conducted by the Census and Statistics Department. However, 34.8 per cent of dogs and 19.9 per cent of cats were still obtained from pet shops in 2018.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore resources should be put on\neducation and prevention rather than giving money to the animal shelters,\u201d\nWoodhouse says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education helps change public mindset and prioritise adoption over personal preference. \u201cAdopters may have in mind that they want a certain breed of dog or cat. Sometimes people have preference over the colour. Age can be a factor.\u201d Woodhouse continues. A system that helps operators to find shelters for animals is also needed as it is difficult for them to find places allowing pet owners to have a pet at home in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Adoption centre at the SPCA’s headquarter in Wan Chai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Housing Authority has forbidden public housing tenants to have pets since November 2003, unless those with permission, such as service dogs, small household pets and desexed cats. Woodhouse suggests Hong Kong can learn from Singapore\u2019s housing policy and project ADORE (Adoption and rehoming of dogs). Each public housing household is only allowed to adopt one local crossbreed dog when it is around seven to eight months of age and has to comply with stringent ownership conditions, like sterilization and compulsory training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Procedures for pet adoption <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hong Kong Dog Rescue Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Many people hesitate to adopt pets, fearing there are complicated and lengthy processes, but Anderson says, \u201cThere have to be some questions asked but there\u2019s a limit as to what\u2019s actually necessary.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe main thing we look for is whether the adopter has a good understanding of what a dog is, meaning that it\u2019s an intelligent animal with emotions, feelings, and a need to be part of a family,\u201d she stresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MANY PEOPLE MISS THE FACT THAT PUPPIES NEED COMPANIONSHIP, SOCIALISATION, TRAINING, AND FREQUENT MEALS TO GO UP INTO HEALTHY AND WELL-ADJUSTED ADULTS,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

says Sally Anderson, founder of HKDR <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan says she has a happy experience when she adopted Charcoal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe first registered by filling in forms and a home visit was also arranged later. After all these, we were allowed to pick up Charcoal from the shelter,\u201d Chan recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe adoption procedures may bring some\ninconveniences as we have to arrange a time for a home visit, but I think\nnothing can get in your way once you are determined to adopt,\u201d Chan says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited By Howard Li<\/em>
Sub-edited by Jasper Cao<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pet lovers are encouraged to adopt animals instead of purchasing them. Animal rights concern groups urge the government to put more effort in promoting pet adoption culture\uff0c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1803,8],"tags":[847,1395,1069,651,204],"class_list":["post-16127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-march-2020-issue","category-our-community","tag-adoption","tag-animalrights","tag-dogs","tag-pets","tag-welfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16127"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16444,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16127\/revisions\/16444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}