Thurs 10th May: The great TNR debate fails again

The Legco report on the TNR (Trap, Neuter and Return) was so predictable it's hardly worth glancing at. Apparently TNR doesn't work, even though volunteers who have been busy catching, desexing and releasing stray dogs in their own time and at their own expense know very well that it does.  If you showed these AFCD civil servants a black dog they would be happy to swear it was white if that's what they were required to do. AFCD Press release -- https://www.legco.gov.hk/…/pap…/fseh20180508cb2-1318-3-e.pdf

It's not the dogs' fault that people can be so blinded by the obvious, but it's always the animals that pay the price.  The puppies and adult dogs that I take are the lucky ones, but they should never have been born.  Nobody wants these dogs and there are already far too many, but once again the government have rejected the sensible option based on two unreliable trials instead of the obvious fact that if you desex dogs they can't have any more puppies.  It's incredibly frustrating to have seen TNR being used successfully, to know that the volunteers that are doing it are being prosecuted rather than praised, and then to read this utter rubbish report.

There's one place where TNR needs to be carried out and it's the Chai Wan Cemetery, an area where dogs are breeding like proverbial rabbits and churning out litter after identical litter.  I took five more Chai Wan Cemetery puppies out of AFCD today, all predictably with tick fever, and all looking exactly the same as the others now at our Tai Po Homing Centre from previous litters.  Taking away the puppies that have already been born achieves nothing, it's the adults who need to be trapped and desexed.

Volunteer Harryn has been providing the photos of the move

Moving on to the subject of moving, the final stage of the relocation of the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre took place today, and we are now fully and officially at 5 Wai Fung Street.  Don't worry if you turn up at our Main Street address by mistake, as we're just a few minutes walk away now.

The lake is for the dogs to swim in

The weather is clearing in readiness for our big outdoor event on Lamma on Saturday, and we have a good number of sign-ups for the day's adventure.  I will be there of course, though sadly without Diamond who I know would have loved to join.  Instead I'm going to enjoy seeing lots of ex-and current HKDR dogs having the time of their lives, and I can't wait.

Remember to pack a picnic and a blanket to sit on, and to take away everything when you leave.  The site is a place of great natural beauty and that's how we need it to stay.