It is clear:
There is a problem with feral animals on Lamma, especially feral dogs.
They should be controlled. If TNR is not working then there should be a cull.
This is a simple question of health and quality of life for every resident, and of for safety for children, elderly, and pets ioncluding of course pet dogs..

I would go further. If you have to have a dog, at least observe some basic hygiene. Pet dogs should be on a leash, kept out of restaurants and places that sell food, and any fouling cleaned up immediately by the owner.

Tolerance is great, dogs are great companions, but hygiene is part of the overall quality of life - part of the reason we all live here, whether we like dogs or not.

The whole dog thing on Lamma is like many environmental irritants in Hong Kong -- that is, it is out if control. When I read these posts it appears there is no solution to the overpopulation of dogs on Lamma. But I have to add that clearly the responsibility lies with dog owners and/or feeders of dogs. I don't have a dog and I don't feed dogs. The way things are on Lamma, I let dogs go on their way, standing my ground, as they do behave like dogs, and though I might say a friendly word to them, I never pat them. I also learned to avoid direct eye contact with certain dogs, as one day a dog that I had been looking at, came out of the ocean (at Power Station Beach) and bit me. That's the ONE bite I got, but the barking is going on right now. I mean literally as I write this. That's why a non-dog owner gets a bit fed up with "dog-lovers" as there are too many barking dogs, and if you love your dog, you wouldn't want it to make a noise like that.

So whether you stand for culling, or neutering, or you believe or don't believe in the effectiveness of either, it is really the responsibility of people who own more than one dog on Lamma to start a registry of the dog population (at any one time), to organise patrols that collect and dispose of dog shit, and to begin a grant for neutering strays and the dogs of lower income families. Would I want to do that? No, I would rather just not own a dog. But I do believe those steps would spread much good will amongst the human population of Lamma.

The most recent SCMP Letter to the Editor, the currently last public word on this topic, from the AFCD:

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

So AFCD has a TNR plan, but the District Councillors won't let them implement it anywhere.
Everyone covering their arse. and nothing will improve.

SCMP : FYI

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 29 March, 2014, 3:25am

http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/art ... stray-dogs

SCMP Editorial
Most Popular
Attack on shopkeeper highlights problem of stray dogs

Last week in Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma, there was another attack by an uncontrolled, stray dog. This time, a local female shopkeeper was so viciously attacked that she had to be taken to a local hospital for emergency treatment.

This is not the first of these attacks and they will continue as long as uncontrolled dogs are allowed to wander freely in Sok Kwu Wan and Lo So Shing, both on southern Lamma.

Dr May Chow, acting principal veterinary officer of the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department, wrote about a trap, neuter, return (TNR) trial ("Trial will help show the way to curb stray dog numbers", January 30).

Dr Chow said that under the trial TNR program stray dogs would be "neutered, microchipped and vaccinated before being released" back into the general population. Herein lies the problem. These are not domesticated animals, but rather untrained, uncontrolled, stray dogs left to their own devices.

What Dr Chow fails to address is who will be liable when one or more of these dogs viciously attacks a child, for example. The answer is the SAR government.

Why these officials have not learned from the TNR program that was launched in Lo So Shing, which has created a massive, aggressive stray dog population, boggles the mind. It would be enlightening to understand why the stray dogs under the department's trial TNR program would be any more domesticated than those wandering our paths and beaches?

To put it simply, there is a stray dog crisis in southern Lamma of biblical proportions, propagated not only by a failed TNR program but also as a result of the department's apathetic and ineffective efforts to enforce its stated catch-and-removal methods.

Rather than focus on unproven experimental techniques, why doesn't the department simply get back to basics, do its job and clean up the aggressive stray dog population haunting southern Lamma?

Last month, the residents of Lo So Shing organized a petition that was delivered to the local office of the Lands Department calling for the removal of more than 50 stray dogs. The people have spoken, and still there has been listless inaction. The result of this negligence, of course, was the brutal and vicious attack by a stray and uncontrolled dog on the shopkeeper.

Just Sayin.. TNR is snake oil, beware those with forked tongue, they want your money and pray on your sympathy.

BTW there was a meeting in Sok Kwu Wan today.. My neighbor witnesses the aggressive behavior/attack on one of the YSW participants and his 2 dogs as he attempted to walk home on the "Family Trail" these dogs were part of the same uncontrolled pack animals that have killed, bitten or maimed companion pets and humans throughout the SKW and LoSo area.

If it ain't on a leash,its in a pack, and no owner is in sight. THAT IS TNR.. Stop it before it comes to your street.

Just to confirm what TNR feeding accomplishes

Slightly off topic but relevant because it has worked for cats here and its good to know it is working in Washington...

Given the chance it would probably work well with our dogs as well! As you will recognise, I am in full agreement with the programme.

http://news.yahoo.com/fur-flies-us-gets ... 14088.html

Here is a very brief extract:

For decades, standard procedure has been to round them up and euthanize them, but in recent years the trend has swung towards TNR -- trapping, then neutering, then returning cats to the places they were captured.

"Ultimately, our goal is to sterilize all outdoor cats and have them pass on through attrition," Scott Giacoppo, vice president for external affairs at the Washington Humane Society, told AFP.

"So if our plan or our goal happens, there won't be any feral cats."

"Unfortunately, many communities in the United States still continue to trap and kill today, and those communities are not experiencing any change" in numbers of feral cats, Holtz told AFP.