Category: Animal Welfare
Owner of Pui O fatal attack dogs says she’s a victim
A Pui O dog-owner responsible for multiple attacks, including two fatalities, says it’s unfair to blame her.
“It is impossible to avoid accidents,” said Ms Choi in an interview with Apple Daily. She said the number of incidents was small.
“It is unfair of other dog owners to put the blame all on a single person,” she said. “I am also a victim.”
Choi contacted the Apple Daily after it published an article on Saturday describing the repeated attacks by her pets on other dogs.
Two dogs have died and at least half a dozen others have been injured in attacks that go back at least six years. Choi’s dogs also frequently chase and attack local buffalo herds.
Choi, who describes herself as a dog lover, she says she has raised 17 dogs in ten years living in Pui O.
Okka Scherer, who runs a dog rescue home at Pui O, says her dog Siu San (photo above) died after being attacked by three dogs in her front garden in February – one of many attacks, including one in which her helper was bitten on the leg.
Rayban’s injuries
She incurred veterinary costs of HK$20,000 as a result of an attack on her dog Rayban last October.
After Choi paid just the first HK$8000, Scherer took her the Small Claims Tribunal and won, but Choi has still not settled the full amount.
The police and the AFCD have declined to take action against Choi. AFCD has ordered Choi to muzzle her dogs, but Scherer says she has never seen her dogs wearing a muzzle.
Another owner whose dog was attacked is Cecilie Gamst-Berg, whose pet was badly injured in 2015.
Gamst-Berg said after the attack Choi was “ordered to muzzle the dogs but never did. They never paid my vet bill (HK$2,000) and never said sorry.”
She said she had reported Choi and her dogs to the AFCD two years earlier – yet after the second attack the department claimed not to have had any previous complaints.
Apple Daily story said Choi is a well-known local antique collector with a property portfolio worth than HK$50 million.
The paper says Choi had declined to respond when initially contacted, but approached the journalist after publication of the two articles on Saturday.
Dog caught in trap at Pak Mong without food, water
A dog was found in a cage near Pak Mong, North Lantau, without food or water yesterday.
It was learnt that the dog had been trapped by a local group, HK Paws Guardian, as part of its campaign to sterilise stray dogs.
Under Hong Kong law it is illegal to place animal traps without AFCD authorisation.
The dog was discovered on the Tung Chung Hill track yesterday morning by a local villager, who called police.
The cage carried a notice from HK Paws Guardian asking to be notified.
An SPCA spokesperson said more than 100 illegal traps had been discovered by the SPCA and other organisations in the past two years, hket.com reported.
These traps had captured cats, dogs, wild boars and others. The spokesperson urged members of the public not to use animal traps.
After being notified, the AFCD returned the trap and the dog to HK Paws Guardian.
Photo: HKET
Lantau fox finds a home in Singapore
The Lantau fox has finally found a home at the Singapore Zoo.
The young male fox – officially a red fox despite its light colouring – was found in the Tong Fuk catchwater last July.
It was put in the care of Ocean Park, where it has since been in quarantine, but the park could not keep it because it is not compatible with its population of Arctic foxes.
In a Facebook post yesterday, the AFCD said many animal welfare organisations “had shown an interest in looking after this cute and proud red fox. Taking into consideration factors such as feeding environment, experience in caring for foxes and veterinary support, Singapore Zoo is most suitable as a new home.”
Source: AFCD video
The fox left for Singapore on March 13, AFCD said.
The new home comes with a new job – he will be used in campaigns against illegal wildlife trafficking.
The fox, just a few months old when discovered in the catchwater, is not native to Hong Kong but is a popular pet in some countries.
It was most likely abandoned by its owner or those who smuggled it into the city.
Lantau Confidential 