When a team of rescuers made a daring entry into a desolate Mong Kok residence in 2020, they found a trembling, emaciated dog who had been abandoned there without food or water.
The Belgian Malinois was soon taken under the care of a team member from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). They named her Wu Tsui and nurtured her back to health in their centre.
The eight-year-old still carries scars of her past abuse: she remains scared of motorcycles and stick-shaped objects; she vigilantly guards her food and resources out of fear that these could be taken from her at any moment.
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But the SPCA staff also speak of Wu Tsui’s boundless energy and her affectionate nature towards those who provide care for her.
Over the past few years, she has been patiently waiting for a loving home to call her own. For a while, the large dog struggled to adjust to the SPCA’s adoption facilities in Wan Chai.
Fortunately, Wu Tsui has been relocated to a more spacious accommodation at the charity’s new flagship centre, which opened in Tsing Yi last month. There, she can be a little more comfortable as she awaits adoption.
Abandonment and adoption trends
After animals are rescued in Hong Kong, they receive medical care, including assessments for injuries and trauma. Veterinary surgeons might also administer vaccinations and other treatments such as desexing. Then, the rescues are typically put up for adoption.
The SPCA’s recent annual reports have revealed a striking trend in the city’s animal rescue efforts.
In 2023, the Inspectorate Department rescued 4,058 animals, which amounts to more than 11 rescues per day. These included dogs, cats, birds, turtles and more. Last year’s figures were only a slight reduction from previous years, as 4,604 were rescued in 2022 and 4,405 in 2021.
However, these numbers reflect a severe uptick from the previous decade, as 2014 saw 1,836 animals rescued, and 2015 saw 1,732.
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SPCA’s deputy director Fiona Woodhouse and executive director Fiona Cumming attributed the rise of animal abandonment to the city’s emigration wave. As residents left the city, many were unable to bring their pets. Some surrendered their animals to the SPCA or to friends, but others just abandoned them.
Cumming added: “Last January, we had only eight dogs adopted, which is a low number.”
Although the SPCA saw a small increase in adoptions among residents who stayed in Hong Kong, Cumming noted that recent changes in work-from-home trends after the lifting of social-distancing rules affected pets as well.
“When people have to return back to [work], there might be more dogs being abandoned or brought back to animal welfare centres,” she explained.
Woodhouse also noted the impact of more frequent holidays after Covid-related travel restrictions were lifted: “They may be thinking, ‘Oh, I want to travel, I [haven’t gone] travelling for three years. So I want a dog, but I’m not going to get a dog now.’”
According to the two SPCA staff, another issue embedded in Hong Kong society is that mongrels are often overlooked for adoption, as people are more likely to adopt cats or small purebred dogs.
They acknowledged that the physical constraints of city life made the adoption of larger dogs a challenge – not to mention housing policies that force pet abandonment, and restrictions on bringing animals onto public transport.
“We’ve got a few exciting campaigns that will be launched later this year ... to shine the spotlight on how we can collectively make Hong Kong a more pet-inclusive environment,” Cumming said.
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One-stop shop for animal care
Totalling nearly 95,000 square feet, the new centre in Tsing Yi – called the SPCA Jockey Club Centennial Centre – now houses the largest pet hospital in the New Territories. It is strategically located here to address the pressing need for animal rescue operations in the New Territories, and it reduces the travel time for inspectors and ensures a prompt rescue response in emergency cases.
“Having that capacity to take those animals in some emergency cases is very important,” Woodhouse said.
She explained that before the new facility opened in Tsing Yi, “we were having to transport them [from the New Territories] back to Hong Kong Island, which was extending the rescue time, and already the facilities there were overcrowded”.
The opening ceremony was the culmination of a nearly two-decade project as the search for the new location commenced back in 2006.
The facility is described as a “one-stop shop” for all animal care and welfare. Besides the hospital, it also features an adoption centre, a grooming area, behaviour and training rooms, animal boarding and a large rooftop for a pet garden.
The centre also boasts four classrooms for educating children – one of which is Hong Kong’s first interactive classroom focused on teaching about animal welfare. Children as young as four years old can learn by playing games, such as one where they must choose the correct food for each animal.
“[It] teaches them about the animal kingdom, common dog breeds and cat breeds here in Hong Kong, and we’re promoting mongrels,” Cumming said. “[It] just really instils in children the importance of pet responsibility.”
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Schools can book visits to these classrooms, and the SPCA also supports secondary schools with projects, workshops, training opportunities, field trips and more.
Woodhouse also pointed out that children are very empathetic and can often understand the pain and joy of animals. She believes it is important to reinforce the importance of animal protection, so children can consider how their choices affect animals.
Cumming stressed: “Instilling in the youth of today the right sort of foundations for animal welfare is very, very important.”
