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Food Safety, Environmental Hygiene, Agriculture and Fisheries
All pet shops selling animals must be licensed by the department, which inspects these shops regularly to ensure they do not contravene any of the licence conditions. Pet shops are required to obtain dogs for sale only from approved sources. The department runs a programme to promote respect and care for animals. It uses a broad range of communication tools to drive home the message. In 2015, 85 educational talks, two dog training courses and 50 thematic/ roving exhibitions and pet adoption events were held to promote responsible pet ownership and rabies prevention.
Animal Welfare
The AFCD collaborates with 15 animal welfare organisations (AWOs) in providing animal rehoming services, covering dogs, cats, rabbits, birds and reptiles. The department provides support to its partner organisations in rehoming animals, including inviting AWOs to join forces with it in holding Animal Adoption Day activities and providing free desexing services for animals rehomed through the partner organisations. The department also continues to provide financial assistance in the form of a subvention for AWO projects which aim to enhance animal welfare and promote better animal management.
To improve the handling of animal cruelty reports or complaints, an inter-departmental special working group involving the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and relevant government departments, including the Hong Kong Police Force, the FEHD and the AFCD, examines the government's work on handling animal cruelty cases, devises guidelines and ensures animal welfare is well protected.
The government is working on proposed amendments to the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Animal Trader) Regulations to strengthen regulation of pet trading to better protect animal welfare. The legislative proposals include introducing a new licensing scheme to tighten the regulation of persons who breed and sell dogs; increasing penalties under the law; and empowering the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation to revoke animal trader licences under certain circumstances.
Primary Production
Hong Kong's agricultural and fisheries industries are relatively small in scale. The government helps improve their output quality, productivity and competitiveness. In 2015, the combined output of the two industries, which directly employed some 18,000 people, was $4.37 billion. Local vegetables accounted for 1.9 per cent of local consumption; cut flowers, 28 per cent; live pigs, 6.1 per cent; live poultry, 95.1 per cent; freshwater fish, 2 per cent; and seafood, 28 per cent.
Agricultural Industry
The agricultural industry focuses mainly on producing good-quality fresh food crops through intensive land use. Less than 1 per cent of New Territories land, where most farming is done, is used for growing crops, comprising mainly vegetables and cut flowers, with a combined output in 2015 valued at about $292 million. Pigs and poultry are the principal food animals reared. Locally reared pigs and poultry, including chickens and eggs, yielded earnings of about $259 million and about $394 million respectively.
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