The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong) (SPCA(HK)) (Chinese: 香港愛護動物協會) is a charity for animals in
Hong Kong.
Background
Before 1997, it was named the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (皇家防止虐待禽畜會). The SPCA(HK) is a
registered Hong Kong charity whose remit is not only actively to pursue the cause of animal welfare primarily in Hong Kong but
also in the rest of China and the region.[1]
It is the first charity in Hong Kong which deals with animal welfare. It was founded by a group of volunteers in 1903 and
re-established with the Governor Reginald Edward Stubbs as President and Patron
in 1921. It then became an active organization in Hong Kong.
The Society is run by an Executive Committee elected by members who provide veterinary services and fund-raising programmes in
order to support the organization economically.
The current President of The SPCA(HK) is the former TVB actress, Gigi Fu (傅明憲). The Patron of the Society is the wife of Chief Executive Donald
Tsang(曾蔭權), Mrs. Selina Tsang(曾鮑笑薇).
The SPCA(HK)'s headquarter is located in Waichai at Hong Kong Island. Other SPCA(HK)
centres are located in Ho Man Tin, Mong Kok, Sai Kung, Cheung Chau, Mui Wo and Hang Hau to provide veterinary and homing services
for animals in need.
Mission and duties
Its mission through the century is " to promote kindness to animals, to protect their health and welfare, to prevent cruelty
and through education, to inspire in the community a deep respect for life so that all living creatures may live together in
harmony."[1]
Main duties
The SPCA(HK) is doing many different kinds of work in order to help animals get proper treatment.
- Collect and rescue the abandoned, sick and injured animals
- Investigate complaints of cruelty
- Accept unwanted pets to ease the stray problems and animal suffering
- Provide low-cost desexing (desex) for cats and dogs to prevent unwanted littles
- Try to find new hosts for unwanted pets
- Hospitalize homeless animals
- Provide veterinary care from basic conservation to treatment of disease or major
surgery
- Educate the public to be a responsible pet owner and to be aware of animal welfare issues in Hong Kong
Recent action
Besides, The SPCA(HK) has been working towards the increase of access for dogs in public area. Currently there is very limited
space for dogs and their owners in Hong Kong. Most of them located in remote areas like country parks and beaches. Concerning the
health, behaviour of dogs, The SPCA (HK) is now lobbying with District Councils, Government Departments and special interest
groups. Some progress are being made and The SPCA (HK)encourages more parties and pet owners to be involved in discussion on the
issue.
Financial resources and account information
In the Society's official website, it states that they "rely heavily on individual donations, membership subscriptions, and
contributions and income from fundraising events". However, according to the SPCA ( HK ) ‘s annual report 04-05], their major
financial resource was from the clinic income of the society[2] . Although SPCA (HK) claims that it is a non-governmental
charity, it received subvention of HK$ 788,112 from the Hong Kong Government in the year of 2004 and 2005. Their Patron has
traditionally been the wife of chief governor's wife. For example, when Tung Chee Hwa(董建華)
was the Chief Executive of HK, the Patron of the society was his wife, Mrs Betty Tung(董趙洪娉).
From the annual report 04-05,the net surplus of the society were more than 4 million Hong Kong dollars. The society's major
income was from the clinic services they provided. The society spent most of their money on staff costs, which were about 30
million Hong Kong dollars. The costs for animal welfare related events or veterinary services were rather smaller. Table 1 showed
some of the categories' income and expenditure during last year.[2]
table 1: Income and Expenditure 2004-2005(HK$)[2]
| Category |
Expeniture |
Income |
Net Surplus |
| Clinic Service |
6,906,504 |
25,726,347 |
18,819,843 |
| Homing Service |
196,348 |
1,036,110 |
839,726 |
| Pet training courses |
136,479 |
632,898 |
496,419 |
| Grooming |
9,020 |
503,776 |
494,756 |
| shop sales |
1,841,602 |
2,775,455 |
933,853 |
| Fund raising activities |
260,154 |
5,556,173 |
5,295,659 |
From table 1, we can see that the SPCA(HK) received a huge surplus from the animal clinic, training , grooming and homing
services. In fact, while many people still believe that SPCA(HK)provides cheaper and safer veterinary services, some pet owners
have questioned SPCA(HK)'s position as a non-profit charity. They claim that they must pay HK$200 to join the membership before
receiving the treatments, but the charges of the veterinary or animal training and caring programme are nearly the same compared
to other private veterinary centres.
Animal welfare
Handle complaints about cruelty to animals, and give warnings or advices where appropriate, prosecution will be instigate when
tougher action is needed. According to the SPCA's Annual Report 04-05, during the year, they received 1271 emergency vet calls,
and their inspectors had collected or rescued 5007 animals. [2]
Organize school visit and exhibition in shopping malls to spread the message of compassion, respect and care for animals.
Besides, there are some useful information on the web to spread the correct message about owning a pet. For example, Vet's
Corner and the Treasure of Knowledge give you the general information about how to deal with the sickness of your pets.
Vaccinate, treat and find new homes for abandoned animals. However, euthanasia will be practiced if the abandoned is not
adopted in a certain period of time.
Look for foster parents puppies and kittens which are too young to leave their mothers. Due to the limited space and manpower
in The SPCA (HK), foster parents are expected to look after them. The orphans will be staying at foster parents' home until they
can get a permanent home.
The SPCA (HK) has a policy of Responsible Pet Ownership (RPO) as a solution to lesses the overpopulation of abandoned animals.
Surrender can only be done in office hours, so that The SPCA (HK) staff can can try to ascertain the reason for the
surrender.
Offers training programmes, including Puppy Socialisation Training and Basic Obedience Training.
Assign hearing dog to the people in need, they serve as their ears and eyes.
Pet care
The SPCA(HK) offers various services for animals in need. The charges of the services are different due to diverse
categories.
Provide boarding service to members for their cats and dogs. The service includes daily monitoring of food and water intake,
toilet habits and demeanour by trained kennel staff enabling any health issues to be detected earlier. In addition, basic
grooming and one on one leisure time to the boarding animals are available for keeping boarding animals clean and healthy.
Offer a full range of grooming services from "Full Professional Grooming", "Special Clipping", flea baths, gentle shampooing,
nail clipping, trim between the paw pads, ear cleaning, brush or coat clipping and scissoring. All profits generated from the
services go to help the needy animals.
Provide regular veterinary services to their member's companion animals with the static clinics and the mobile clinic vehicle.
Along with regular veterinary services, the department also provides special veterinary services such as "Weight Management
Clinics" and "Wellness Clinics" for animals in need. According to the Annual Report 04-05, there were 64,969 animals had been
given veterinary treatment from their clinics during the year.[2]
Donation
The SPCA(HK) has a "Monthly Donation Campaign", in which donators can support the charity monthly by cheque, credit card, PPS,
direct credit transfer or on-line. The SPCA(HK) also has an on-line shop which provides various kinds of products such as book,
pet-product and souvenirs like T-shirt or clocks, photo frame and stationery of the society. When customers purchase items there,
the profits will go to the SPCA as charity funds.
According to the SPCA ( HK ) ‘s latest annual report for year 2004 to 2005, they received a total of HK$3,234,339 from
donations during the year.[2]
Volunteers
Volunteers have played an important role in The SPCA (HK) for many years. With their contribution, The SPCA (HK) has become
the most successful animal welfare organisation in Hong Kong. Many animal-lovers join the volunteer team to help the organisation
to take care of unwanted pets and promote public awareness of animal rights. The SPCA (HK) needs volunteers to help in some
different kinds of work. Anyone who is interested in the following voluntary work can apply to join The SPCA (HK)'s volunteer
team.
- Cat, Dog, Exotic Socializers*
Volunteers help to create a homelike environment the animals. Volunteers will play with pet, brush, talk to and provide love
for animals until the animal is permanently adopted.
Volunteers work with The SPCA (HK) team in cleaning, feeding, bathing and grooming animals.
Work with the homing team to find permanent homes for many unwanted pets.
Volunteers take The SPCA (HK)'s pooches for a promenade with love and care.
Volunteers work behind the scenes with the organisation's veterinary assistants in the dispensary and surgical preparation
room.
Volunteers visit public classrooms with a variety of living creatures, sharing knowledge about petcare, endangered species and
other topics relating to animals and the environment.
Other ways to help
People, who are not able to be a regular volunteer, can still help The SPCA (HK) by providing a temporary home for animals for
three to four weeks only. Being a Foster parent, ones need to take care of the sick or injured animals or animals that are too
young to be adopted. The SPCA (HK) will provide medical treatment for the animal. The volunteer team also includes people with
special skills in photography, writing and artwork.
Adoption
One of the SPCA(HK)'s most well known services is the animal adoption. In year 2004 to 2005, 2,433 animals were successfully
adopted. [2]
To ensure the adopter will be a responsible owner, the SPCA(HK) set certain rules for adoption , people who want to adopt animals
should check the [Conditions for
Adoption] set by the society.
Euthanasia
The SPCA(HK)’ｓattitude towards animal euthanasia has long been controversial among
animal lovers and pet owners. According to the SPCA(HK)’ｓannual report, 5125 animals had been euthanised by the society in
2005.[2]
During the past few years, there were more and more reports about the society’s euthanasia policy. However, the report of
domestic cat Athos(多士)
had been wrongly euthanised by the SPCA(HK) has caught public attention.
In the report, a 40-year-old woman, Althea Tan, claimed that her two-year-old cat Athos (with a collar and name tap)
was given a lethal injection after being handed over to the SPCA. Ms Tan strongly accuses the SPCA of the senseless killing of
her pet. In response, the SPCA said that although Athos was wearing a collar, he did not have a name tag. A spokeswoman of
the SPCA(HK) states that Athoswas put down because he was found to be too aggressive to put up for adoption. Major local
newspapers all reported the case and readers sent letters complaining the society's action of "careless killing" was against the
"No Kill Policy" stated on SPCA's official website. Others went on Internet forums or private blogs for pet lovers, to express
their anger towards SPCA(HK) and brought the question of whether SPCA truly cares about the animal or just wants their
donations.[3]
Latest news
The SPCA (HK) announced that they raised about HK$1 millions due to the 85th Anniversary Raffle. The money will bring new
hopes to the homeless animals. SPCA will put more efforts on educating the next generation about preventing animal abuse and
becoming a responsible pet owner. The raffle was called 'SPCA 85th Anniversary--All Stars For Animal Charity Concert (星級寵愛音樂會)'. The President of
SPCA(HK) Gigi Fu, artists Hacken Lee, Alex Fong, Stephy Tang, Niki Chou, Karen Mok, Stephanie Cheng, Vincy attended the activity.
Gigi also put her personal ornaments onto an auction, and the money raised was all donated to the SPCA(HK).
Publications
Pawprints
Pawprints(足印) is a
quarterly newsletter published by the SPCA (HK). Its contents range from the SPCA (HK) news and announcements to international
news concerning animal welfare. Interviews with the SPCA (HK) staff and vets are also featured. The public can go to their
official website to read the past issues of Pawprints.
Free Performance By The Big Brown Bear
Free Performance
By The Big Brown Bear(愛.動.物)is a comic book written in Chinese for children between 6 to 12. The book conveys the
message of loving and caring animals.Free Performance by the Big Bear is now available in all big book stores in Hong
Kong.
See also
References
- ^ a b SPCA(HK) Policy Document Animal Welfare. www.spca.org.hk. Retrieved on Oct 24, 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f g h SPCA(HK): "Annual Report 2004-2005.", pages 11--18. SPCA(HK),
2006
- ^ My Q Pet. www.myQpet.com. Retrieved on Nov 3, 2006.
External links
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