Tues 22nd Feb: A plea to all

 With the rush of people trying to get out of Hong Kong now I have to ask all dog owners PLEASE make arrangements to take your four-legged family members with you if you are leaving.  HKDR, and I'm sure all of the other dog rescue organisations, are already struggling to manage as it is, so accepting even more dogs in great numbers is going to be almost impossible.   I have been sent information about flying dogs to Europe rather than direct to England, if that is where you're planning to go, and KLM is the best airline by far for handling dogs.  There's a pick-up dog taxi service that will meet the dogs at Amsterdam or Paris  and drive them all the way to your home address in the UK, Jane's Euro Pet Taxi.

  Make sure your dogs have up-to-date rabies vaccinations, and you can take them to AFCD to get that done and new licenses issued on the spot for just $80 (we always recommend this anyway).   However with the current situation, the AFCD Animal Management Centres are only open for two days a week, and maybe not even that, so make sure you confirm the opening day and hours.  

We're also facing the challenge of trying to move out of our Ap Lei Chau location and into new premises in Kennedy Town, but with everything that's been going on it's been very difficult getting the building materials and so on, meaning the new Homing Centre won't be ready in time.  The call for foster homes to get us through this period has resulted in many of the Ap Lei Chau dogs and puppies finding temporary care, but we still need more.  Our Foster Coordinator, Cindy, is doing an incredible job but she too is completely overwhelmed now, and it needs to be repeated that she is a volunteer, not a full time paid staff member.  

This is really a challenging time for everyone in Hong Kong, and we all need to support each other if needed.  If you haven't already made arrangements for someone to look after your pets if you are unlucky enough to be sent to any sort of isolation unit, please try to do that, and make reciprocal agreements with friends or join/set up Facebook groups offering such help.  I can't imagine what will happen to any animals if there haven't been arrangements made ahead of time, as AFCD have very limited space and their facilities are hardly ideal anyway.