South China Morning Post 南華早報
CITY4 | CITY | By Danny Mok 2007-11-02
Police criticised after kitten found with legs chopped off
An animal concern group accused police last night of being totally uninterested in acting against animal abuse after a one-month-old kitten was found outside a supermarket on Choi Yuen Estate, Sheung Shui, on Tuesday night with its hind legs chopped off.
Elaine Chan Ling-yi, founder of the Cat Society, said she reported the case to police but they only put it on file.
Ms Chan said a pedestrian found the kitten and gave it to a volunteer from the group who took it to a veterinary clinic in Kowloon City that night. The vets believed its injuries were caused by a person, she said.
The government recently introduced tougher penalties for people who abuse animals, she said, but law enforcement officers were not taking the issue seriously.
Ms Chan said the kitten, named Lam Lam, was taken to another clinic in Happy Valley after the first vet expressed reluctance to save the animal because it faced the suffering of life without hind legs.
All four vets whom we consulted said they had never seen such terrible cruelty ... I've never imagined people here could be so perverted, she said.
The society frequently saw cases of cats tortured by being sprayed with hot oil, pierced by fish hooks and held down and bitten by dogs, she said.
A vet operated on the kitten last night but its condition was not known.
Ms Chan said police made it difficult to report animal cruelty cases. Usually the police would ask for pictures of cats being tortured or dead bodies, which is absurd and impossible, she said. Should I just wait until I see them being killed to get a picture?
She said she was discussing with other cat concern groups the possibility of holding a protest march to call for greater urgency in enforcing laws against cruelty to animals. Copyright (c) 2007. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
