Environmental authorities earlier said they were in the final stages of a study on reducing the current 120-day quarantine period for pet dogs and cats from locations considered to be high risk for rabies, such as mainland China, Macau, Malaysia or Thailand. Lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon described the current policy as “outdated” and said the review could ensure some pet owners faced “one less hurdle” when thinking about working in Hong Kong. “Owners can’t afford to part with their pets for that long,” she said.
“Just imagine leaving your children in quarantine for four months. Would you be OK with that?” “The unreasonably long time and high cost are a recipe for a black market. That applies to everything,” she said.
The Post found dozens of accounts on mainland social platforms that claimed they could transport pets to Hong Kong from cities such as Shenzhen, with some saying they would deliver the animals in two hours or more. At least five couriers said they would transport pets in private cars and promised to avoid harmful practices such as cramming animals in backpacks or drugging them during delivery. Hong Kong has one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes for pet cats and dogs, resulting in no local animal cases of rabies being recorded since 1987.
Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said last Wednesday that the 120-day quarantine period was necessary in the past because of the disease’s months-long incubation period, addin.