22nd April 2010
81pc of animal management budget spent rounding up stray dogs and cats; catchers need 83 operations to round up 20 strays. $230 million for bridges and subways to nowhere; one subway unused for 20 years, except by street sleepers. 78pc of post offices losing money - $117 million a year. Orchestra spends $976,000 on drums, and another $617,000 to store those it doesn't need. It spends another $830,000 on tickets for its own concerts to give away. $32 million paid to Eco Park managers over three years, yet not one tenant has moved in. And that's just scratching the surface of a $200 billion-a-year budget ...
Animals
More than half of the city's 317,000 dog licences have expired and not been renewed but animal officers have been unable to enforce the licensing rules, which tens of thousands of dog owners could have already breached, the latest audit report says.
More than 177,000 licences, which are valid for three years, had expired by the end November last year. A total of 91,000 dogs aged 10 years or over are believed to have died, meaning up to 86,000 remain unlicensed.
Dog licences, which cost HK$80 from government-designated centres, can only be renewed when a dog is revaccinated against rabies, so these unlicensed dogs could pose a potential threat.
Under the Rabies Regulation, all dogs aged over five months must be micro-chipped, vaccinated and licensed. Breach of the rules can lead to a maximum fine of HK$10,000.
But the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has prosecuted only about 1,000 dog owners for the offence in the past two years.
The government's audit report on control of pets found a trial scheme operated by the department since March 29 to visit dog owners, urging them to renew their licences, had been a failure, with only three out of 105 owners pledging to renew.
The department has been asked to consider issuing renewal reminders to owners, and to explore ways to make it easier for them to report the deaths of their dogs.
The report also draws public attention to resources being used to control stray dogs and cats. About HK$30 million a year is spent on catching about 12,000 to 13,000 strays and putting down nearly 90 per cent of them. The spending accounts for 81 per cent of the department's animal management division budget.
The report said catching stray animals was costly, and up to 83 operations had been conducted at the same location in North Point after repeated complaints of stray dogs killing cats. Because of the resources involved, the report asked the department to consider if outsourcing was viable.
But Sandy Macalister, executive director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said there could be an alternative to the capture-and-cull approach. "We agree with the government that the stray dogs problem has to be eliminated, but not through killings but by natural wastage," he said.
Macalister said they were close to introducing trials on "TNR" - trap, neuter and release - and officials had shown increasing interest in this.
Meanwhile, a survey by the Audit Commission found up to one in four pet shops in an unnamed street were not licensed, as were four out of five boarding establishments in another.
The audit also quoted an SPCA survey involving 207 animals being treated at vets' clinics from late 2006 to mid-2009 which found 72 per cent of the dogs became sick within a week of being bought from pet shops.
It called on the department to increase fines for the unlicensed pet trade to HK$100,000 from HK$2,000, which is lower than the licensing fees of between HK$2,600 and HK$3,800.

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