A committee of the Hong Kong Legislative Council has been discussing an amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance (Cap. 169).

However, some legislators questioned the proposed introduction of a positive "duty of care” to animals and the lack of a clear definition to this duty of care.

Peter Shiu of the Wholesale and Retail constituency asked what a “suitable environment” entails with regard to the duty for responsible persons for animals to take reasonable measures when relevant circumstances arise to provide suitable food and environment to the animals. He further opined that a balance needs to be struck when setting penalties. He also stated that there are people around him who have pets that may need to be reminded as to potential violations of the law.

In reply, Dr. Thomas Sit, Assistant Director at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department gave the following examples. When keeping a dog, one must make sure the dog does not overheat. As dogs do not have sweat glands and often rely on their tongues to release heat, measures such as putting a mask on a dog would increase the risk of the dog overheating. As to suitable food, Dr. Sit gave the example of maintaining a suitable protein intake for a cat, so when the owner of the cat only feeds vegetarian foods to the cat, it might adversely affect its health.

It is estimated that after consulting the committee, the proposed Bill will be further finalised and an Amendment Bill would be submitted to the Legislative Council in the latter half of the year.

Relevant authorities pointed out that statistics over the past 3 years have shown that there were around 280 cases of cruelty towards animals reported on average each year.

The proposed amendment would increase the maximum penalty for relevant offences from a fine of HK$200,000 and 3 years’ imprisonment to a fine of HK$1,000,000 and 7 years’ imprisonment.