Tues 24th March: Decisions for changing times

We have to take every day as it comes and adapt and adjust accordingly, and taking into consideration the feelings of the Ap Lei Chau staff and volunteers I made the decision to temporarily close the smaller Homing Centre to casual visitors, meaning those just looking.  Of course we still have dogs that need homes and that doesn't change, but we will need to have a completed adoption questionnaire before approving a meeting and you can find the application form at  www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoption-questionnaire/

Being an outdoor site the Tai Po Homing Centre will remain open at this point, but again please understand that we have to restrict visitors to those who are genuinely looking to adopt a dog.  The questionnaire will help us to suggest those that would be a good match and help with the selection. With the low number of volunteers currently coming to help out at the Centre our staff are having to deal with double the workload, so unfortunately don't have time to show visitors round who are just interested to see what we do.  It's a struggle to keep going under these difficult circumstances but the dogs are what matter and we won't give up on them.

Remember Charlie was was almost scared to death? He's back on track now

Lola couldn't come last Sunday but she's available to meet and adopt

We also have many puppies currently in foster homes that are available for adoption, and you can see their photos in the Sunday afternoon albums taken by the volunteers that donate their time and skills to help.  As a reminder here are the photos again

Puppy Adoption Day 22 March 2020 - Part 1(Aaron Howland), Puppy Adoption Day 22 March 2020 - Part 2 (Sophie Burkhardt) and

 Puppy Adoption Day 22 March 2020 - Part 3 (Alex Chao)

I'm not sure this is Alison but it's what she looks like 

Not everyone cares about the dogs sadly, and that was made very clear in a case that had me fuming with rage today for two reasons.  To give the whole story, a woman completed our surrender form for a pom, which it turned out she had adopted from HKDR two-and-a-half years ago.  The woman said she was returning to Australia and couldn't take the dog along,  and when asked why she said she and her husband had separated so her plans were vague (this is me paraphrasing).  Anyway I said of course we would take back the pom, who we knew as Alison, but today the woman told me she had instead surrendered Alison to AFCD at Pokfulam.

I was furious, but assumed it would be easy enough to get Alison out of AFCD, and how wrong I was.  As a dog can only be registered under one person's name and it was the husband who had his name on the license, the pom was considered to be a "stray" and AFCD would need to try to trace the "owner".  I sent all of the emails as well as the surrender form, and even the adoption photo, to AFCD Headquarters (Dr Esther To) and the Veterinary Officer at Pokfulam AFCD (Dr Thomas Lau) so it was very clear that although in the husband's name and it was the wife who had surrendered the dog, to all intents and purposes they were both the owners.

I was completely floored when I was told no, procedures must be followed.  This is a time when all Civil Servants, including Post Office staff, are working minimal hours so any letters sent by post can take weeks to get to the recipient.  This is also a time when rules are changing daily, for example the need for Domestic Helpers to return to the Philippines to have contacts renewed, because these aren't normal times and everyone has to adjust and adapt accordingly - except AFCD it seems.

The pom could be held for months while the "owner" is traced, kept in a dark cell with no bed, no toys and no companionship and being fed the cheapest possible food.  I asked for some common sense and compassion but it was not forthcoming, despite all of the proof I had provided that Alison was in no sense a stray and that her dual ownership (husband and wife) was evident.

It's this rigid adherence to nonsensical prodecures, especially at a time when the rulebook is being thrown out daily, that makes people hate AFCD so much, and right now I'm one of those people.

As for the wife who couldn't be bothered to come to Ap Lei Chau to drop Alison off, she's disappeared and is almost certainly back in Australia now and without a care in the world.