(HK) Pet protection

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

http://focus.scmp.com/focusnews/ZZZCWRG8GZC.html

Saturday, April 6, 2002

 

EDITORIAL

 

Details provided by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals (SPCA) of its proposed ''no-kill'' policy offer a radical approach

to a problem largely ignored for too long.

 

The statistics are alarming: between 1,000 and 2,000 dogs are

destroyed in Hong Kong each month by the SPCA and the Agriculture, Fisheries

and Conservation Department.

 

The euphemism ''put to sleep'' is often the preferred description of

what happens to this huge number of animals. The reality is considerably

more unpleasant.

 

While the SPCA's blueprint for a more humane approach to the problem

of dog and cat population control may seem extreme, in fact it offers a

highly workable series of measures.

 

Of course, while the avowed intention is to adopt a ''no-kill''

policy - and this phrase is certainly a headline-grabber - such an end is

not truly achievable and this is admitted by the SPCA. Dogs and cats will

still have to be destroyed. But the real point being stressed is that the

way the cat and dog over-population problem is tackled at the moment is

simply to destroy the surplus. Under the new proposals the approach to the

problem would be reversed and over-population would be prevented from

occurring in the first place.

 

The practice has proved to be highly effective elsewhere. Over the

long term it can be successful here too. It is to be hoped that the

Government decides to adopt the SPCA's responsible proposal. Ultimately, the

issue is not only about the welfare and treatment of animals: the way we

tackle such problems is also a litmus test of whether a society is as

civilised as it would like to think that it is.