{"id":326999,"date":"2026-02-08T16:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T16:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/326999\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T16:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T16:21:10","slug":"call-for-tougher-animal-welfare-laws-after-invasive-turtle-found-in-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/326999\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for tougher animal welfare laws after invasive turtle found in Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Hong Kong animal rights activists have called on the government to create a list of approved pets after an abandoned 85kg (187lbs) alligator snapping turtle was found eating fish in a New Territories pond.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">They also called on authorities to microchip turtles sold to the public, toughen penalties for letting pets loose in the wild and update the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance before pushing further ahead with a \u201cpet-friendly\u201d society.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Bon Chan Chung-pong, founder of Turtle\u2019s Inn, said he received a call that the alligator snapping turtle had been caught by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in Tai Sang Wai, Yuen Long, on January 13.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Farmers had been reporting a mysterious decline in the number of fish in a pond, with some bitten in half.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The turtle, measuring about one metre (3.3 feet), was discovered when the pond was drained, and residents notified police and department officers.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Chan, who has been working with turtles for three decades, negotiated the transfer of the turtle to his care instead of euthanising it, and Yoshi is now at Sai Kung Turtle\u2019s Inn Community Education Base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hong Kong animal rights activists have called on the government to create a list of approved pets after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[269],"tags":[152044,23853,157042,4232,157045,157044,157043,157039,18,440,4202,19,17,157041,53990,5,157038,157040,133,21351,10522,19453],"class_list":["post-326999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-afcd","tag-alligator-snapping-turtle","tag-amanda-whitford","tag-animal-welfare","tag-biosecurity-law","tag-bon-chan-chung-pong","tag-cites-appendix-ii","tag-cites-trade-database","tag-eire","tag-environment","tag-hong-kong","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-luohu","tag-new-territories","tag-news","tag-prevention-of-cruelty-to-animals-ordinance","tag-sai-kung-turtles-inn-community-education-base","tag-science","tag-scmp","tag-shenzhen","tag-south-china-morning-post"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116035930387770919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}