OK.. how's that for a heading? LOL

I was unable to attend the Police/Government meeting due to work, but I did make it to the meeting at the pub.

Thanks to Gary who arranged it... .I thought he did a great job!

And it was nice to see a huge group of people of all nationalities who have made Lamma their home, as well as locals attend the meetings.

Have a question..

The first meeting at 7pm in the Local Govmt office,.. I could see that there were quite a few police, etc....and heard that AFCD and the SPCA were also involved. Great!!

Can anyone tell me... was Yiu Lai Fan there? Our Lamma representative who cares all about us Lammaites. Did she attend? thanks for info.

All three candidates for the District Council elections did attend the Police meeting, their first "joint meeting", but no interaction between them as far as I could notice.

Yu Lai Fan stayed outside, observing; one of her two assistants was inside.

Paul Lau also attended the Diesel's meeting and we had a good, long chat afterwards, including his volunteer (a SaveLamma veteran, I believe).

I also got this location map below from Mark Taylor, Deputy District Commander of the Marine Port District in Aberdeen, the direct boss of our Lamma Police Chief, chairing the meeting. the map is showing 4 of the 7 poisonings reported officially so far to the police:
Yung Shue Long Sitting Out Area, Yung Shue Long New Village and up on the way to the Firestation.

Still working on some minutes of the two meetings, but Gary and somebody in the police meeting might be quicker and do a better job, as I have two more photo shoots coming up all day tomorrow, including following the Round Lamma races.

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One more police poster, after the meeting.

When can we get Gary's new poster(s), following the meeting?

Next meeting at Diesel's next Thu, Oct 13, 8pm, tentatively, tba, tbc.

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Hi, it's Gary from the meeting.

I wanted to thank you all again for making time and coming to the bar the other night and give a sum-up of the meeting for who couldn't make it.

- A rota has been put together by volunteers. They will patrol the route that most of the dogs were killed.

- A reward pledge was signed by a lot of people at the meeting. It's at HK$30,000 now and posters for "Wanted" will be followed.

- Great articles (done by volunteers as well) that covered the meeting have been sent out to media including HK Magazine, Now TV, TVB News, Wenweipo, Next Magazine and East Week. It was done both in Chinese and English. I'll post them subsequently after this.

Before the next meeting on the 13th, I'd like to collect questions on the dog killer matter that you want answered by the police so I could take them to the police before the meeting. I'm sure it will certainly bring more to talk about for the next meeting and show the authority that we aren't giving in easy this time.
Please feel free to post the questions on this thread or you can always email me as well at nagamuaythai@gmail.com

Thank you again and hope to see you again next Thursday.

I'd like to thank Bryony, Monica and Teresa who were involved in the work.
Your help is greatly appreciated by everyone.

________________________________________

Lamma Dog Killer Endangering Lives of Dogs and Residents

Residents in Lamma held an emergency meeting yesterday (6 October) to discuss feasible solutions to tackle the dog poisoning situation. From mid September to date, there were more than 20 dogs which have died from consuming luncheon meat scattered on the roads which was contaminated with paraquat, a very potent and toxic weed killer.

During the meeting, some residents raised the concern that it has now transpired that paraquat could kill not just by consumption, but by contact as well through permeation through the skin or direct contact with a wound. There have been sightings that the contaminated luncheon meat was cut into small cubes and spread out in a straight line in a neat and organized manner, as opposed to being thrown randomly. Residents were worried that the dog killer might have some psychiatric issues. Most dog owners now do not walk their dogs for fear of being the next victim. Those who dare would put muzzles on their dogs and keep a very tight leash on them, keeping them at all times no further than one foot away from them.

Paraquat is a quick and non-selective herbicide. It is toxic to both humans and
animals. There is no antidote to Paraquat. A lot of countries have banned paraquat but in Hong Kong, apparently, the chemical can be easily accessed to over the counter of most pharmacies. Residents question why the Hong Kong Government has not proceeded to ban or restrict supply of paraquat. Where the contaminated luncheon meat was found, there is a kindergarten and a primary school. Residents are concerned that school children may come into contact with the chemical. Although may not fatal, it may lead to kidney failure.

Lamma Police has hitherto not taken any action in relation to the incidents. Some residents heard that the Lamma Police said there have only been 8 incidents reported since 28 September, although there have been reports of over 20 cases of fatalities. The reasons for the discrepancy were believed to be that the victims were afraid of repercussion and a lack of confidence in the Lamma Police.

The Lamma Police allegedly said that there was no evidence and hence could not commence any investigation. One resident said he found a piece of contaminated luncheon meat and took it to the Police Station. According to the resident, the policeman immediately dismissed the “evidence” and discarded it in the rubbish bin. Residents were keen to see that the Lamma Police take immediate action to identify the dog killer and cease the killing. Another meeting will be held the following Thursday at 8pm to continue discussions. Lamma Police representatives will be invited to attend the meeting. Pending Lamma Police commencing and concluding an investigation, Lamma residents resolved during the meeting that a petrolling roster be set up and a pledge of reward be made for persons who come forth with useful information.

Lamma residents now call for caution to all dog owner visitors to properly leash and muzzle their dogs when they visit the island. Parents should be vigilant with their children and not let them walk around the island bare footed and not to touch any wild plants.

______________________________________________


南丫變態殺狗狂徒

下毒危害島民人生安全

就日前報導南丫變態殺狗事件，居民於昨晚八時於島內召開緊急會
議，相討有關對付狂徒對策。由九月中旬至十月上旬，島上已有超
過二十二頭狗隻遭殃。大部份是在路邊吃了沾有百草枯除草劑的午
餐肉而死亡。但據島民最新消息，有狗隻只是途經有毒路徑，毒物
便可透過皮膚或傷口，滲入體內至死。變態狗殺手會將有毒午餐
肉，整齊一字排開，非一般毒狗殺手胡亂放置食物於路邊。故島民
相信有關狂徒有心理問題。現時島民人心惶惶，人人自危。

百草枯為有毒的除草農藥，多個國家已經禁售。而且一旦中毒，並
無解藥。島民質疑為何政府還容許該毒物農藥在香港發售。會上有
島民表示，懷疑有毒路徑旁邊分別有一間幼稚園及一間小學，擔心
一旦有小孩身上有傷口而沾有百草枯，也會中毒而引致急性腎衰
竭，甚至死亡。

事件由九月二十八日收到有島民報警，至今警方還沒進行任何調
查。警方方面只表示沒有證據，故暫不能展開調查。島民對此不負
責任的說法，感到非常憤怒。經商討後，居民暫定於下星期四晚
上八時再召開會議，並會邀請警方出席，繼續密切跟進有關事件進
展。

島民自發團體現正呼籲，如欲到南丫島之遊客，敬請為狗隻帶上口
罩及用狗繩妥善控制狗隻。家長亦應小心看顧幼童，勿讓幼童赤腳
及胡亂伸手接觸植物。

Obviously the police is doing a lot more now than discarding the potential evidence. But they will keep up only when we do the same.

erm, isn't the purpose of an investigation to collect evidence?

Ok. Some posters have been made.
Which one do you think will be most eye-catching and symbolic enough for non-English speakers to grasp what it means? Please consider that it will have to be printed balck and white as well.

First poster hits the spot.

Should it be reward leading to the prosecution?
Many people can be arrested and released.

I agree, best design and clear message that can be grasped quickly when passing by.
The other two posters have unsuitable and inappropriate images for this case, why a burglar and a wheelbarrow?

A story by our Pet Correspondent about the two meetings has just gone live on the home page and I've added this poster already:
Lamma-zine, Sunday, Oct 9: Police Pursue Dog Poisoner.
It also corrects a number of mistakes in Gary's media release above.

Alba the Film-Maker, the very first victim to report her poisoned dogs to the police, asked for this message below to be read out at the first Diesel's meeting. Not sure if anybody read it out as I arrived late coming from the very informative, but quite pessimistic police meeting, which was not offering much hope of catching and convicting this sick individual anytime soon. But the police will certainly try their best, within their tight limitations, after having gotten the message from the community loud & clear, I think.

Alba wrote:

"Sorry, John and I cannot be at this meeting. As most of you probably know we lost our two dogs to the poisoner. We had come to love those dogs so much , they were part of our family.
We are convinced that whoever has done this just do not realise the pain they are inflicting on the victims.
We would like to be part of any campaign that comes out of the meeting.
Our feeling is the emphasis should be on two aspects.

1. Try to build a sense of awareness in the entire community just what pain this type of action is causing. This could be done with a series of leaflets distributed in the community both in Chinese and english written as personal testimonials from victims. Just maybe this will prevent another round of poisoning

2. A major campaign in the wider community to bring attention to the danger of paraquat to peoples' , especially children's health. When one witnesses the horrible death this brings to dogs it is inconceivable the same happening to a child. We think this can only be done through the media if some media channel is prepared to take on the cause.

Regards, Alba"

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Here's the full video record of the forum held by the police last week
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5C6A4AF5FE2447F7

Awesome! Thank you for the uploads.

Great work Gary.
Great posters, do you have a Cantonese version?

Mia who helped me with the posters doesn't know Chinese so we tried to make it symbolic but if there's anyone who's willing to change the 3 lines of English to Cantonese, you're more than welcome.

It was made on Powerpoint then converted to JPG so it's simple enough to change. All I have to do is to pass the file.

If there's anyone, please let me know.

I appreciate all the help & support.

Chinese version:

The posters are great and very communicative!! It's great to see them available in both English and Chinese.

Some thoughts though... is that the police's phone number? Should it be make clearer? Especially in the Chinese poster, the phone numbers are placed so close to the e-mail address. People may think the phone number and e-mail address may belong to the same person...

I can't go to the coming meeting, and I couldn't make it last week either. (I have to work until late in the evening). But I am wondering, is there a plan to lobby the government to boycott paraquat? Surely, there should be a safer herbicide alternative, for humans and animals.

umm, why does the 'dog killer' have to be pictured as a man? A bit presumptuous? If a dog crapped outside Mrs Spleepy's house, I'd be the first to shop her and claim the reward. Its just sterotyping that men are bad again. Women like cats, Men like dogs -- so why would a man do this more than a woman? If cats get killed, you know its a man.. but dogs?

I've just been updated that a "joint multi-agency working group has been formed up by Police, FEHD, SPCA and AFCD. The group had the first meeting on 2011-10-11 and formulated the forward strategy."

I'm trying to find out now what this "forward strategy" is and how many dog poisonings have been reported so far, well before tomorrow's 2nd meeting in Diesel's at 8pm, I hope.

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Ask who is the SPCA contact. They're more likely to give you a straight answer than the civil servants.

The 2nd Dog Killer meeting planned for tonight, Thu, Oct 13, has been postponed to Mon, Oct 17, 8pm, in the Football Pitch (to be confirmed).

One more poster below, seen yesterday outside the former Just Green Organic Convenience Store, which has just relocated to a harbourfront location nearby.

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