Does the SPCA
Euthanise Animals
Due to Lack of Space?
No, the SPCA does not euthanise animals due to lack of space. However, this has happened in the past, but not for many years. For instance, in 1996 when our centres were overwhelmed with nearly 2,000 abandoned dogs in a two-month period (as a result of the Housing Authority enforcing a ban on pet keeping). Since then, we have continuously lobbied the Government to allow pet keeping in public housing, and have also launched desexing programmes to help bring down the number of unwanted and feral animals.
Due to the success of these programmes, today, euthanasia is only used to alleviate animals from pain and suffering or where an aggressive animal may present a serious risk to human and animal health.
Although space has a role in determining whether we can take in the animals we rescue, lack of capacity is not a reason an animal is euthanised – once they enter our adoption programme, healthy, homeable rescue animals will stay at our centres until they find a home. View our animals available for adoption here .
Apollo (PN 557872)
Luffy (PN 556453)
Bailey (PN 541413)
Watermelon (PN 552066)
People say the SPCA euthanises rescue animals after four days. Is this true?
No, the SPCA does not euthanise animals after four days. This misperception is rooted in our lost-and-found process. Government regulations require a stray animal to be kept for four days before determining the next steps (unless in the veterinary surgeon’s opinion euthanasia is indicated due to immediate and overriding welfare or health concerns). Once the lost-and-found process is completed and depending on the situation, a healthy animal could be returned to its owner, sent to a foster family, be placed for adoption, or sent to AFCD who may rehome the animal via another partner shelter. We do not euthanise healthy, homeable animals. Many of our animals will be treated for medical or behavioural issues in the hope that they will eventually be rehabilitated and will be able to find a home.
What factors do we consider when rescuing an animal and determining whether they are suitable to be rehomed or euthanised?
The SPCA’s mission is to end cruelty, alleviate suffering, and protect the health and welfare of all animals across Hong Kong, and our primary concern is always the welfare and quality of life of the animal. The same factors discussed earlier for owned pets are considered in the decision-making process concerning rescue and surrendered animals, with the additional consideration of best use of resources given the sheer number of animals we rescue and the limited availability of resources.
We will look at the following things:
- Temperament -
Does the animal have any behavioural or psychological conditions? If yes, can they be helped or resolved? Can they live with people? If it’s a stray cat – can they live indoors? Sometimes cats are feral and prefer to live outdoors with their colony. If we come into contact with a cat who is assessed as being a feral or street cat, contrary to popular belief, the SPCA will not automatically euthanise the otherwise perfectly healthy cat, but will instead try to find a colony close to where the cat was found for it to join our Cat Colony Care Programme (CCCP).
- Health -
Is the animal suffering from an illness? How serious is it? Is it curable? If an animal’s health cannot at least be nursed back to “OK” or they suffer from a debilitating chronic illness that requires long-term treatment coupled with a poor quality of life, then euthanasia is a valid welfare option.
The SPCA also needs to consider the rescue animals already in their care – does the newly rescued animal have an infectious disease that would put the other animals at risk? A kitten with a highly contagious feline infectious enteritis virus infection has a low chance of survival, but a high chance of infecting the many kittens and cats we are keeping with a deadly virus. However, with that being said, we do have the capacity to isolate and treat those with mild infectious diseases, and will do so where possible.
- Injury -
How severe are the animal’s injuries? Will it negatively impact the animal’s day-to-day life after treatment? Will it be able to fend for itself if it is released back into the wild? The amputation of a limb is manageable for an animal with an owner, but makes fending for oneself out in the wild difficult. Returning a disabled feral cat to the wild, that is unsuitable for adoption, yet unable to hunt or fend for itself would be negligent and lead to poor animal welfare.
However, if the animal is homeable, amputation might be an option. In fact, we have multiple three-legged dogs and cats at the SPCA that have managed to find, or are still looking for, a loving home at the SPCA. These include the now adopted Dan Dan – the cover star for our last Pawprint (issue 122) – and Chu Chu (PN 565848), who is currently waiting for his forever home at the SPCA Tsing Yi Centre at the time of writing, to name two!
- Age -
This helps us determine whether an animal is sent straight to homing or requires foster care once they have gone through their health checks and have been observed. Very young animals which require more care, can go to stay with our foster parents until old enough to go to our Adoption Centres, and remain there until they find their forever homes. The great news is that many more people are interested in adoption, which means we have the capacity to find homes for more senior animals and are seeing animals as old as ten years plus being adopted.
- Cost -
If animals are injured or sick, especially those requiring expensive surgical procedures, the SPCA has professional funds, including the Cinderella Vet Medical Fund, to help provide homeless animals with the necessary urgent medical care they need. However, this is a finite resource, and the SPCA needs to carefully consider which animals we can nurse back to at least “OK” for a better quality of life. Do we use these funds towards prolonging the suffering of an animal with a poor prognosis to undergo lengthy treatments knowing there is a small chance it will survive, or do we use it to help treat a healthy mongrel puppy with a broken leg that we know can go on to have a great quality of life?
Failing one or more of these criteria is not the be-all and end-all.
Our vets will look at the bigger picture and consider all aspects and can consult colleagues to ensure all alternatives have been carefully considered.
The SPCA has worked hard over the years to come up with a number of solutions to bring the stray animal population down to more manageable levels
Since the 90s, the SPCA has greatly expanded their education programmes, to educate the general public on animal welfare issues and responsible pet ownership, and ramped up their desexing services to curb the birth of unwanted litters.
The SPCA’s Cat Colony Care Programme (CCCP) was the first ‘Trap, Neuter, Release’ (TNR) Programme in Asia. This has greatly reduced the number of unwanted litters through the free spaying and neutering of stray cats and, as a result, gives us the capacity to care for, and home, older animals.
The SPCA’s Animal Welfare Vehicle provides low-cost desexing services for pets in remote villages, whilst the Mongrel Desexing Programme and Community Dog Programme (CDP) – which provides free desexing services – also help to regulate the population of ‘loosely owned’ and homeless dogs, all of which have brought the animal population back down to more manageable levels; allowing us to save more animals in the long-term.
Both of these graphs demonstrate the effectiveness of desexing programmes such as CCCP and MDP, significantly bringing down the number of cats and dogs euthanised.
*The euthanasia figures in both of these graphs are derived from combined data from AFCD and SPCA and also includes animals that died in care.
During the COVID pandemic, when travel restrictions saw a drop in requirement for our boarding services, the SPCA opened up our boarding kennels to house the additional homeless animals until they were adopted.
Now, thankfully with the pandemic behind us, and with the opening of our new Tsing Yi Centre in March 2024, we have the capacity to take in more rescue animals in need.
However, to continue to reduce the city’s abandonment of animals and improve the “save rate” requires the collective effort and support from the general public, and the SPCA cannot do this alone.
The SPCA is a self-supporting NGO which needs to generate 99% of their funds to operate and be able to maintain ongoing animal rescue and welfare work. As a result, it relies heavily on the public’s support and donations. What you spend on your pet with the SPCA, helps save those animals outdoors. All proceeds from our retail, grooming, boarding, education, behavioural and training, and veterinary services go back to helping our rescue animals. You may also support by adopting and becoming a member.
As well as indirectly supporting our welfare initiatives through the above services, you can also directly sponsor the programmes mentioned, ranging from our Cat Colony Care Programme and Animal Sponsorship Programme, to Cinderella Vet Medical Fund and our Inspector Fund.
Click here to learn more about
our programmes and donate
