Nigerian officials have seized thousands of donkey penises that were about to be exported to Hong Kong. Sacks of the donkey male genitals were seized at the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, Sambo Dangaladima.

Although the seizure of donkey genitals meant for export from Nigeria is rare, donkey skins are known to be frequently exported or smuggled out of the country.

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A Chinese woman was horrified after a man adopted her pet Labrador and then tried to extort 5,000 yuan (US$725) from her by threatening to have the animal killed for its meat before vanishing with her pet.

The woman, surnamed Chen, from Shenzhen in southern China, gave her two-year-old Labrador Duobao to a man who said he wanted to adopt it as a pet. But two days after collecting the animal, he told her he had sold it to a dog meat shop and threatened to have it killed in a bid to extort money from her.

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Police in eastern China have shut down a crime group using live sparrows to lure and trap cats for sale as meat for human consumption, an international animal welfare organisation has revealed.

Nearly 150 cats, crammed into 11 cages, and 31 sparrows used as bait were rescued from a location in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, last Thursday by police acting on a tip-off from animal rights activists, according to Humane Society International (HSI).

The cats, which had mainly been people’s pets, are believed to have been caught by the thieves who placed flapping and chirping sparrows inside a wire bag with a remote controlled trap mechanism.

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Hong Kong animal rights groups have welcomed the government’s move to tighten anti-cruelty laws, but some say the proposed changes do not go far enough to deter abusers.

A bill to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance will go before the Legislative Council later this year, increasing penalties, introducing a new indictable offence and strengthening enforcement powers to prevent pets from suffering physically and mentally.

The proposals include imposing a “duty of care” on those responsible for animals, requiring owners to safeguard their welfare.

But others wanted the bill widened to cover more types of animals and provide for heavier punishments.

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Australia will phase out battery eggs by 2036, after a lengthy battle between the egg industry and animal welfare groups that the latter says will finally bring the country into line with Europe and New Zealand.

The reform was quietly announced on Thursday with the publication of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry, a framework that has been in negotiations between governments and industry for seven years.

HKALPO comments

Do we even want to talk about the welfare of the chickens we see in Hong Kong wet markets…

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On Wednesday, August 10, the Chilean Supreme Court rejected the appeal filed by the Interspecies Justice Foundation (FJI) against the decision of the Court of Appeals of San Miguel, which declared inadmissible the amparo – or habeas corpus – presented in favour of the Bornean orangutan “Sandai”, held in captivity at the Parque Zoológico Buin Zoo S.A.

HKALPO comments: -

There is absolutely no justification for keeping intelligent and sentient animals in substandard enclosures like the ones at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. The embarrassing lack of space, stimuli and a feigned impression of ‘natural habitat’ creates extremely negative and concerning welfare standards for the animals which are trapped there.

The lack of transparency is also a major issue, with no publications of animal profiles, no official reports on the enclosure sizes despite the numbers of animals increasing, and a failure to publish two large scale consultancy studies commissioned by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department over the past 20 years.

Something needs to be done…

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Cash-strapped Britons are giving up their family pets in numbers not seen since the 2008 financial crash as the cost-of-living soars. Many owners are being forced to decide the additional cost of food plus hundreds of pounds in vet bills is no longer manageable.

Exotic pets such as snakes and lizards are also proving too expensive due to their need for specialist heating and lighting.

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Hippos could be added to the list of the world’s most endangered animals because of dwindling populations caused by the climate crisis, poaching and the ivory trade.

The semi-aquatic mammals are found in lakes and rivers across sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population of 115,000-130,000. As well as the trade in ivory – found in its teeth – and animal parts, they are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, and the effects of global heating.

Hippos are also legally traded for commercial purposes and hunting trophies under Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

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A law passed in France in November 2021 to cut down on the number of pet abandonments recently came into effect when it was published in France’s Journal Officiel, at the start of the summer period when, traditionally, the number of pets dumped by their owners rises.

In France, abandoning a pet is punishable by law. Penalties have been increased to a maximum of three years in prison and a €45,000 fine, compared to two years in prison and a €30,000 fine previously.

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Police on an anti-smuggling operation have confiscated more than 120 kittens and puppies illegally shipped into Hong Kong by speedboat from mainland China.

The 84 kittens and 42 puppies were found inside 46 crates on the speedboat, which a smuggler abandoned when chased, in the city’s northwestern Ha Pak Lai coastal area in Lau Fau Shan at about 11.30pm on Sunday, police said.

HKALPO comments

There continues to be an inordinate demand for pedigree pets here in Hong Kong, which unfortunately catalyses unscrupulous individuals and syndicates into committing offending such as the present one. At no stage during this process will the welfare of the animals be at the forefront of those involved. It is always about commerce.

If expensive pure bred pets are able to be smuggled into Hong Kong without paying the required import fees, those who then go on to sell the animals at a premium retain a bigger slice of the pie. But at what cost?

Those living in Hong Kong will have seen the embarrassingly poor conditions that animals in pet stores continue to be displayed in. Small glass boxes with minimal space and a complete lack of any proper stimuli will only further impact their welfare. Incredibly - this is the visage at is presented to the public. One only wonders what the reality is behind those large metal doors at the back of the pet stores…

It really comes to a matter of supply and demand. If we eliminate the desire for pure bred manicured pets and focus our attention to adopting the thousands of animals that continue to look for forever homes in Hong Kong, then the hope is that we will no longer read about these incidents in the near future.

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The migratory monarch butterfly—the iconic subspecies common to North America—was declared endangered today by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global leading authority on the status of biological diversity.

The butterfly, known for its twice-yearly, 2,500-mile journey across the continent between its summer and winter grounds, has declined by between 23 and 72 percent in the past 10 years, according to the IUCN.

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A 39 year old Hong Kong man has been arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after having been caught on video repeatedly pushing violently on a Shiba Inu’s neck in a dog park. The Shiba Inu was pressed to the ground by the man for more than half a minute and seen to be clearly distressed and panicked.

Investigations revealed that the Shiba Inu was not his pet and that he had forced the dog’s neck onto the ground as a way to ‘teach’ the dog a lesson.

Courtesy of Chloe Ip.

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After the tragic death of her Golden Retriever Maverick, on a China Southern Airlines flight bound for British Columbia, Canada, back in July 2020, the owner of the dog has only been offered ‘cargo weight’ compensation amounting to just over US$1,600.

Monique Collette is still seeking justice for the pet she adopted as a puppy when teaching English in China, who became her closest companion and was placed on a flight ahead of her own after she hired a professional pet mover to ensure her dogs safe passage to North America.

HKALPO reacts:

Despite our companion animals often considered as part of our family, the law in Hong Kong (and other jurisdictions) still only treats animals as ‘property’. This means that where there has been damage and/or loss caused to your pet, the law only provides compensation based on the value of your pet. This of course fails to take into account the importance of a domestic pet to many people and strikes a discordant note in current times.

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Advocates for Animals recently acted for Jessica Sarkar, a volunteer at New Dawn Malinois Rehoming (NDMR) Dog Rescue, who bought a successful private prosecution against a company director who fostered two of NDMR’s dogs, refused to return them, and allowed them to become emaciated, causing one of them unnecessary suffering.

HKALPO reacts

The UK is incredibly fortunate to have Advocates for Animals continuing to not only identify problems with animal welfare and law, but also to take that step further to bring a private prosecution on behalf of a volunteer at a dog rescue centre. The work Advocates for Animals does is to be exemplified and commended and we hope that other jurisdictions including Hong Kong can follow in their mammoth footsteps.

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 (UK) completely outshines the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals Ordinance, Cap 169. More specifically, where the UK legislation has in place a duty of care provision, Hong Kong legislation still has yet to implement the same.

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An An, the world’s oldest male giant panda under human care, has lost its appetite and is in low spirits, according to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park. The animal, born in Sichuan province in southwestern China, arrived in Hong Kong in 1999 along with a female giant panda named Jia Jia as a gift from Beijing to the city. The latter died in 2016, aged 38.

HKALPO reacts

Zoo’s play very little part in true conservation. There are of course problems with animals in their natural environment but one must remember that we were the ones that went and railroaded their environment. We have destroyed their natural habitats, taken these animals out of the wild and put them into enclosures that are completely unnatural and inadequate to support positive animal welfare. This in turn, naturally, causes animals to suffer from depression and other situations that cause animals to suffer as a result of being held captive and taken from the wild.

The only way to any meaningful wildlife conservation is in-situ. This means spending money on protecting animals in the wild from poaching, habitat destruction and being exploited for entertainment or sold as exotic pets. Keeping wild animals in captivity is not conservation.

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Police have arrested a 42-year-old man after a video went viral showing a cat being struck by a black seven-seater car and then collapsing on a roadside in Hong Kong.

The Road Traffic (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 came into effect on November 7 last year and all drivers are now required to stop their vehicles if they hit a cat or dog. Previously, the definition of “animal” in an accident only covered horses, cattle, asses, mules, sheep, pigs or goats.

HKALPO reacts

Sadly instances such as the above are not rare in Hong Kong, but continue to happen on almost a daily basis. This is why it remains incredibly important to speak out when you see such acts of cruelty and injustice committed against animals. Our animals here in Hong Kong do not have a voice, so we as citizens must be their voice.

A secondary to this is the enforcement of present laws. There is no utility to having laws that set out penalties for committing offences against animals if there is no enforcement by the Hong Kong Police. Animal related cases should be seen as important as other cases, and the same level of investigation and effort must be employed

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Customs officers found more than 800 endangered seahorses being smuggled through an airport to be used as "natural viagra" by bogus healers.

The dried seahorses had been stashed in a freight package going through Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport when they were found by a sniffer dog. The 5-kilogram (11-pound) package was reportedly in transit from Senegal, West Africa, to Laos in southeast Asia, when it was found.

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The British government has announced plans to better protect endangered species around the world, such as bears, chimpanzees and pangolins, clamping down on the illegal wildlife trade.

The latest round of the UK's Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, announced on Friday, will offer grants of up to £1.5 million to environmental groups helping to tackle the worldwide issue.

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