Mr Gordon Chan traced the past and future of animal protection laws in Hong Kong in a CPD Talk with Ince & Co Hong Kong.
In the talk, Mr Gordon Chan traced the origins of Hong Kong’s century-old animal protection laws. Discussing the ban on the consumption of cats and dogs, the prevention of cruelty, and how the punitive model has been evolving toward the imposition of positive duty in the foreseeable future.
In the 2019 consultation paper, the Food and Health Bureau and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) proposed to enhance animal welfare in Hong Kong. These include amending the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance to impose a duty of care on keepers, raise maximum cruelty penalties, ban convicted persons from keeping animals, and give officers powers to enter premises and seize animals in distress.
The major development in the paper is the imposition of a positive “duty of care” on persons responsible for animals. The responsible person must take steps to ensure the following welfare needs of the animal are met to the extent required by good practice:
- (a) the need for suitable nutrition;
- (b) the need for a suitable environment;
- (c) the need to be able to exhibit normal patterns of behaviour (including social needs); and
- (d) the need to be protected from pain, suffering, disease and injury.
Since the 2019 public consultation, there has yet to be any development in this area. It remains to be seen how Hong Kong’s animal laws will evolve.
Gordon Chan, Esq
Barrister-at-law, Archbold Hong Kong Editor on Public Health, and Member of the Bar Association's Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure. Specialised in medical, technology and criminal law.
