On 31 March 2022 new amendments to The Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance and Regulation (Cap 599 and 599A) took effect that make the refusal, obstruction or failure to surrender a pet that “a health officer reasonably believes has been infected with a specific disease”, a criminal offence – punishable on conviction by a fine and imprisonment.
A question concerning the obstruction of members of the public from complying with the order of surrendering high-risk animals arose in the Legislative Council on 6 April 2022.
Question: In January this year, samples of hamsters collected from a pet shop were tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 virus. To minimise the risks of spreading the epidemic, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) strongly advised members of the public to surrender their hamsters purchased from local pet shops which involved two import consignments to the AFCD for humane dispatch. However, some people stopped members of the public from surrendering hamsters to the AFCD outside the New Territories South Animal Management Centre of the AFCD, and took over the hamsters concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether the existing legislation (including the Public Health (Animals and Birds) Ordinance (Cap. 139) and the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 599), as well as the related subsidiary legislation) expressly empowers the AFCD, the Department of Health or other government departments to (i) order members of the public to surrender a particular type of animals kept by them on the ground that there is a risk of virus transmission from such type of animals to humans, and (ii) impose penalties on those persons who obstruct members of the public from complying with such an order; if so, of the reasons why the relevant government departments did not exercise such powers in the aforesaid incident…
A written response from Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan confirmed that existing legislation under Cap. 599 and Cap 599A, provide that if a health officer has reason to believe that an article (including an animal), is, or may have been, infected with a specified infectious disease, the health officer may order a disease control measure to be carried out in respect of the article or destroy the article.
Obstructing, or assisting to obstruct a health officer from performing their function is a criminal offence and offenders are liable on conviction to a fine of HK$5,000 and to imprisonment for 2 months.
The recent amendments provide clear regulations requiring the owner of an article (including an animal) to surrender the article upon a health officer’s direction. The maximum penalty for non-compliance is HK$10,000 and imprisonment of 6 months upon conviction (see section 3 and section 7 of Cap. 599).
The implications are that in future the public or animal welfare groups may face serious penalties if they are found to obstruct or not comply with the directions of health officers in relation to the seizure of pets.
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