(CN - HKG) New leash of life for public estate pets

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

http://hongkong.scmp.com/hknews/ZZZZWTGMWKD.html

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

 

The Housing Department has climbed down from its near-total animal ban

by ELAINE WU

 

The Housing Department has proposed that existing dog owners in public

housing estates be allowed to keep their pets until the animals die, a

climbdown from its no-pet policy. Under the proposal, residents with dogs

that weigh less than 20kg can keep them until they die. The department also

amended its pet policy to recommend that residents be allowed to keep cats

and small pets in their flats.

 

These recommendations were sent yesterday to the subsidised housing

committee of the Housing Authority, the policymaking body which will make a

final decision on Thursday.

 

The decision came after two angry protests by animal groups and pet owners

forced the Housing Department to postpone enforcement of its almost total

ban on pets. A government source said the new guidelines were an attempt to

strike a balance between animal rights groups and people who do not want

pets in public housing.

 

" We are happy about that, " Doris Yiu Wai-fun, spokeswoman of Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said of the move. " The only thing we are

not happy about is the 20kg limit for dogs. But we still accept it because I

think we cannot fight anything further. "

 

The department also wants to prohibit dogs from travelling in lifts from 7am

to 9pm. Tenants organisations can make amendments to this rule, to allow

such travel during a two-hour window within that restricted period. Dogs are

also not allowed in children's playgrounds and cannot urinate or foul on

public housing properties.

 

Dogs that weigh more than 20kg, or are fighting dogs, will be banned from

public housing estates. Their owners will be given one-month notices to

vacate them. Exceptions are made to service dogs that assist those with

medical problems.

 

Under the proposed policy, dog owners will be forced to move their pets if

they receive two verified complaints from residents about their pets being a

disturbance.

 

The department estimates 17,000 households, or 2.8 per cent of all public

homes, have dogs.

 

In May, the Housing Authority passed a demerit points system to force pet

owners to dispose of their pets or face eviction.

 

elaine.wu