Hong Kong - Hong Kong actress and singer Karen Mok is
spearheading a television campaign against animal cruelty in the run
up to Christmas, a time when huge amounts of pets are abandoned as
unwanted gifts.
The 37-year-old features in a 30-second advertisement in which she
urges people not to keep pet dogs in cages, the Hong Kong Dog Rescue
group said Friday.
The practice of caging pets is quite common in the former British
colony, where the majority of families live in small apartments in
high-rise blocks and with no outside space.
Often people are sold cages along with the animal by pets shops.
The advertisement, to be first screened in Chinese on TVB Jade
from Saturday and run over Christmas, shows an unhappy dog in a small
cage watching animals run around and play on television.
'You don't have to hit a dog to abuse it,' says Mok. 'To lock your
dog in a cage is to inflict mental torture.'
The advertisement comes at a time when animal welfare groups are
struggling to find homes for with growing number of abandoned dogs in
Hong Kong.
Recent government figures show up to 30 abandoned animals are
being destroyed every day because they cannot be adopted.
Owning dogs as pets is a relatively recent phenomenon in the city
of 6.9 million and there has been a huge rise in the number of pet
shops and illicit dog breeders in the past five years.
Sally Andersen of Hong Kong Dog Rescue said it was not uncommon to
come across dogs that had spent their entire lives in cages,
including large breeds such as golden retrievers.
'I can't think of a worse life for a dog than being kept in a
cage,' she said.
'Watching my own dogs running and playing, and also the dogs at
our Pokfulam kennels who spend much of the time running free, the
thought of the many dogs who never enjoy this freedom and pleasure is
very sad.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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