Tues 5th March: 40 years in Hong Kong, 21 years of HKDR

 I suddenly realised that this year marks the 40th anniversary of my arrival in Hong Kong, and like many people who ended up staying, my original plan was to spend six months here before continuing with my travels.  I didn't immediately start rescuing dogs, but it only took a couple of years before I'd taken over the care of the dogs on what was subsequently nicknamed "Dog Island".  As an indication of how things are moving in the right direction in terms of education and awareness, the routine dumping of dogs and puppies on that small island has now stopped, and the last of the remaining resident dogs died last year so thankfully there are now no strays there that need feeding.  It's also the 21st year of HKDR, founded in 2003. 

Sadly, however, the growth in dog ownership in Hong Kong has meant the proliferation of breeders, almost all illegal, providing puppies for everyone and anyone who hands over the money, regardless of their ability to care for one.  

There's also the current problem of people leaving Hong Hong and not taking their dogs with them, for whatever reason.  There's no doubt that the cost of flying a dog to another country has increased dramatically, while the availability of spaces on flights has dropped.  This is why we ask everyone to think seriously about the long term commitment of adopting unless you have the money to spare, not to mention the time it can take to arrange all of the blood tests and paperwork.  Some countries are still easy in that respect, including the US, Canada, UK and all of Europe.  Ironically it's other Asian countries that require much more, plus Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.   Barely a day goes by when we aren't asked to accept a dog for re-homing because the family are moving to another country and not planning on taking their dog for whatever reason.  Today it was a three year-old corgi boy, so if you're interested in potentially adopting please complete the questionnaire at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoption-questionnaire/, bearing in mind that in many cases these surrender requests don't actually result in the dog coming to us.