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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
able to impose appropriate punishment to the recidivists in terms of the level of fines. The Department is of the view that the circumstances have not changed since the early 90s and the arguments advanced are still applicable. Accordingly it is considered that public education coupled with prosecution remains the best available option.
There are altogether 262 dog excreta collection bins installed at strategic locations in the urban districts, mainly at dog fouling blackspots. Their distributions in each district are also tabled today.
Prior to the introduction of dog excreta collection bins, the Department provided dog toilets as a means to minimize the dog fouling problem. Due to difficulty in finding suitable land for the construction of dog toilets particularly in densely populated districts, the Department started in early 1995 to provide fibre-glass dog excreta collection bins at railings and lamp posts. During these 2 years, it has been observed that dog excreta collection bins are generally acceptable to the public and welcomed by the dog owners. The condition of the dog fouling blackspots has also improved. The Department will continue to monitor the situation as part of an on-going review.
MR. KAM NAI-WAI (in Cantonese):-I have several follow-up questions. First of all, I don't understand why Mr. Joseph CHAN Yuek-sut is not the one to answer the question today. I wonder if it has to do with his saying earlier on that he was not too well suited to be Chairman of the Public Health Select Committee. I hope Mr. CHAN will respond to this.
My main follow-up questions are, firstly, on dog excreta collection bins. As stated in the reply and from observation, dog fouling collection bins are widely accepted by the public. Are there statistics to prove that dog fouling collection bins are effective? Have we conducted any survey on how many dog owners place dog excreta in collection bins or how much dog excreta was collected by Department staff from collection bins? Do we have actual statistics? If not, maybe we should conduct a survey so as to determine the effectiveness of dog fouling collection bins more scientifically.
Secondly, I go back to the statistics tabled here. For example, only one dog owner of the Central District was prosecuted whereas more than 30 of Kowloon City District were prosecuted for dog fouling. Have we conducted any survey to prove that dog owners of the Central District are more civic-minded than those of the Kowloon City District? Or is it because of staff shortage that the prosecution figures for Central were lower than those for Kowloon City?
Lastly, I do not see from the document the locations of dog fouling collection bins as mentioned in the reply. I can only see the distribution of dog fouling blackspots, not dog fouling collection bins. Maybe Mr. CHAN or Mr. WONG can answer my questions.