Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ 10: Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance
Following is a question by the Hon Choy So-yuk and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(April 16):
Question:
Although the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill 2006 was passed
by the Legislative Council at the end of 2006 to raise the penalties for
offences relating to cruelty to animals, incidents involving serious animal
abuse, some of which even caused the death of the animals concerned, occurred
frequently in recent months. In this connection, will the Government inform this
Council:
(a) whether it will review the enforcement of the existing legislation
concerned; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) whether it will review if the existing penalties concerned have adequate
deterrent effects; if it will, of the details; if it will not, the reasons for
that; and
(c) of the statistics on the prosecutions instituted and penalties imposed under
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance (Cap. 169) in the past two years
(broken down according to the Annex I)?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance (the Ordinance) is the main
legislation against animal abuse. The Administration will review the enforcement
of the Ordinance from time to time. To enhance cooperation in handling animal
cruelty cases between departments, the Police, Agriculture, Fisheries and
Conservation Department (AFCD), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong) have jointly
reviewed the existing procedures for initial investigation at incident scenes,
subsequent investigation and follow-up work. The current enforcement of the
Ordinance is considered to be generally satisfactory.
(b) The maximum penalty under the Ordinance was increased to a fine of $200,000
and three years' imprisonment in 2006. It should constitute substantial
deterrence. The Administration will continue to monitor the implementation of
the Ordinance to see if there is a need for further review of the penalties.
(c) Figures on prosecutions instituted and penalties imposed under the Ordinance
in the past two years are tabulated in Annex II.
Ends/Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:29
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