Weds 8th Nov: Working all day with zero result

Nacho (laughably licensed as a Doberman)

Labrador Reuben

I'll start with photos of two more new dogs at our Tai Po Homing Centre, just a couple of the many that have been arriving recently, and with more at AFCD Pokfulam still waiting for space. 

 The response to the posts about the puppies that were left outside the Tai Po Homing Centre was quite incredible, and with our Foster Coordinator, Cindy, being away I was the one who was trying to reply to the hundreds of foster applications that were pouring in.  In fact by very early in the morning I thought we had the temporary homes we needed, until one by one they started dropping out, leaving me once again having to go through the forms that were still coming in, and still are even as I write.  At this point we have no foster homes that are suitable, and the puppies are still at our Tai Po Homing Centre even though we don't have the space for them.  

The reason that I say the homes offered aren't suitable are various, from the locations being too far away from the vet clinics we use, the time alone being too long, the offer being for one puppy only or the starting time for fostering being too far ahead.  We need fosters now, not next week, or even the weekend.  Under normal circumstances we would move the puppies to Kennedy Town, but with parvovirus cases there, and a second puppy (Rollo) having very sadly died today, there's no way we can introduce new and unvaccinated puppies to the Centre. 

If you can foster at least a pair of puppies immediately, and can take them to Acorn (Sai Ying Pun), Concordia (Happy Valley) or any SPCA clinic, then please contact us. The puppies are not labradors as many seem to think, they're just mixed breeds, and around four weeks old at most.  We don't know what mix they are or how big they will grow to be as adults, but I assume not small. They can't be walked (again as many people think is necessary) and they can't even go outside as they are too young and not vaccinated.  They're even too young to have any vaccinations, so they need to be looked after in the home, but not in a cage please.  

There have been online criticisms from some people about the fact that we were unhappy about the puppies being left at our Tai Po Centre, not a place where we ever keep puppies at the best of times.  The comments were along the lines of it's better than leaving them on the street, but with our Homing Centres full to bursting and nobody having the time needed to care for baby puppies, it's actually really unfair to put us in this situation.  AFCD have four Animal Management Centres around Hong Kong and the New Territories, and they will take in puppies and then contact all of the Animal NGOs to see who can accept them.  This means sharing the load without placing it all on any one organisation, and in the meantime the puppies are safe.  

Someone shared an article with me referring to the awful situation that faces volunteers who try to help abandoned and stray dogs原文網址: 「掛名主人」險被控　動物義工誓保流浪狗清白：牠們不會咬人 | 香港01 https://www.hk01.com/article/12579?utm_source=01articlecopy&utm_medium=referral.  I have spoken out many times before regarding the unfairness and unacceptable treatment of the stray dogs by the Hong Kong Government (AFCD),  as well as those individuals who constantly risk prosecution for doing what should be done by the government, who meanwhile seems to be completely disinterested in the illegal breeders and puppy smugglers bringing animals in from the Mainland.  In this particular case I'm so glad that the volunteer in question insisted on pleading not guilty, and eventually the case being dropped.   There would be no need for individuals to have to risk being prosecuted if the government took responsibility for reducing the number of strays and unwanted puppies being born by implementing Trap, Neuter and Return (TNR).