“Noah’s Ark – Hundred rabbits for Chinese New Year” event follow-up

Regarding the event – “Noah’s Ark – Hundred rabbits for Chinese New Year”, our Society committee Joanna Chow met with Sun Hung Kai Group representatives and Gary Chan Hak Kan on February 1, 2011 and March 7, 2011 to discuss related matters.Sun Hung Kai’s representatives stated that as the management company for Noah’s Ark, they do not have right to limit the content of Noah’s Ark’s event particularly it has obtained animal exhibit license from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. In additional, promotion and advertising has been carried out, cutting the activities could lead to other administrative problems. Therefore, in the first meeting, our Society has proposed the improvement of rabbits’ living conditions and the arrangement of the rabbit after the events.

At the meeting, our committee requested the Media Evangelism to do the following:
1. Provide the right food, which is a lot of hay and rabbit food, to all the rabbits. Do not give carrots and snacks
2. Do not let visitors to touch or feed the rabbits
3. To strengthen the heating system
4. To have a veterinarian present and provide health checks to ensure that the sick rabbits get the right treatment and avoid spreading the disease

The Society learned later that items 1 to 3 of the above are complied. However, No. 4 can not be ascertained.
After the event, our Society will provide exceptional services to receive the rabbits by batch and through normal procedures to help them to find suitable adopters without charge. We aim to reduce the harm causes by random adoption or prevent them to return to breading farm. The Media Evangelism only need to responsible for the costs of the sterilization for these rabbits. If any of the Media Evangelism staff or visitors have registered for adoption, our Society can take over the registration and arrange them to participate the training course provided by our Society.
During the meeting, Sun Hung Kai’s representatives thought the proposal is feasible and will negotiations with the Media Evangelism.

After the event, we have asked the Media Evangelism about the rabbits. They have returned most of the rabbits to the original farm (I believe that are the breeding farms), some remain in the Noah’s Ark for long term exhibition. Few of them were adopted but the exact figure was not clear. They did not accept our Society’s arrangement offer. The following email was Media Evangelism’s reply:

Hong Kong Rabbit Society:

Thank you for your care and concern of small animals.

After the event, half of the rabbits were arranged back to their original owners or farm, while some of the owners agreed to let the rabbits stay in our centre for long term exhibition as a goodwill ambassador. Together with other small animals to promote the positive message of life under the care of our professional staff. Some of the rabbits were on hold for adoption application. If the applicant has follow our adoption rules and passed the strict selection, the rabbits will be adopted. For details and arrangement is yet to be confirmed. Once the arrangement is completed we will have a actual record. However, due to the privacy ordinance of Hong Kong, we cannot disclose the original owners’ names and please be understood.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite all your members to come visit us and provide us valuable advice. Let’s work together to provide love and concern for animal.

Regards.

Media Evangelism

To this incident, our Society has made strenuous efforts to fight for proper welfare for the rabbits. We are deeply regretted. We just hope that these rabbits will be happy eventually and hope that the related company or organization has learned a lesson. Do not try to use animal to attract customers and respect the rights for the animal.