Ying Xia on Strategic anthropocentrism: framing animal protection in China’s public interest litigation (JEL)

"Strategic anthropocentrism: framing animal protection in China’s public interest litigation"
Ying Xia
Journal of Environmental Law
Published online: December 2025

Abstract: This article investigates how Chinese non-governmental organisations (NGOs) strategically mobilize environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) to advance animal protection in a legal system that is deeply anthropocentric and lacks dedicated animal welfare legislation. Drawing on a series of landmark cases, this study identifies key advocacy strategies that frame animal protection in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem services; public health and biosecurity; and wildlife-related intermediary obligations. These frames allow NGOs to translate animal welfare claims into legally justifiable and administratively actionable harms, by aligning with state priorities such as ecological civilization, sustainable development, and public health. The study finds that finding that EPIL, when coupled with strategic framing, can operate as both a legal remedy, as well as expressive governance that helps to gradually expand the legal and moral imagination for nonhuman interests. Meanwhile, however, these framings also risk reinforcing the marginalization of animals whose protection cannot be fully justified through human-centred rationales.

Shi Tao Zhang on Pets in Protection Orders: A Comparative Analysis of Four Common Law Frameworks and Recommendations to Expand Hong Kong’s Animal Law Regime (JKJLS)

"Pets in Protection Orders: A Comparative Analysis of Four Common Law Frameworks and Recommendations to Expand Hong Kong’s Animal Law Regime"
Shi Tao Zhang (Exchange Student)
Hong Kong Journal of Legal Studies (Volume 18, 2024), pp. 121 - 147

Abstract: As women’s liberation and animal rights gain more popularity in mainstream discourse, the intersection of intimate partner abuse and animal cruelty has emerged as a novel area of law. What happens when one’s significant other hurts their pet during family disputes? If a victim of domestic violence applies for a protection order, can their pet be covered by it as well? This article focuses on the legal recourses and social resources that are available in four common law jurisdictions: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. Starting with an overview of the connection between animal abuse and domestic violence, it then explores the legal framework and community resources available to victims of domestic violence who want to include their animal in a protection order against their abuser and who want to be sheltered alongside their trusted pet in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. An analysis of the normative principles that underlie these legal regimes is then used to determine the prevailing attitude of the law towards animals. Finally, an overview of Hong Kong’s legal regime on the topic highlights the urgent need for reform and gives way to recommendations formulated through the examination of empirical studies and comparative legal perspectives.

Call for registration: Giving a voice to the unheard victims of environmental crime (22 May 2024)

Illegal wildlife trade is the fourth most lucrative black market for transnational crime. Smuggling of endangered species is a low risk, high-profit crime, made all the more attractive to criminals in the absence of deterrent sentencing and effective enforcement.

To help legal professionals counter wildlife crime, Professor Amanda Whitfort of the Law Faculty has developed an international tool to help judges and prosecutors better understand the harms caused by illegal wildlife trade.  Bringing together law and science, her Species Victim Impact Statements initiative sets out the impacts of wildife crime for over 150 species, providing a voice for animals, plants and ecosystems in the criminal justice system. The SVIS initiative has been endorsed as an effective tool to combat wildlife crime by the United National Office on Drugs and Crime and has been included in the Nigerian Rapid Reference Guide for Prosecutors published in 2023. Professor Whitfort will talk about her approach to educating law enforcement officers in a seminar with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime this Wednesday 22 May at 4pm. Registration is free and please click here for registration online.

Giving a voice to the unheard victims of environmental crime

A Talk By Amanda Whitfort , Prof Ray Jansen , Alastair MacBeath , Diana Chilambwe , Edward Banda (ACAZ, LLB, Cert) And Ashleigh Dore

22 May 2024

4:00 PM - 5:30 PM HKT

About This Talk

Animals and other species are often voiceless victims of environmental crimes. Such crimes were often marginalized in the legal sphere, treated as minor infractions with little regard for the impact on species and ecosystems. However, a new legal approach is reshaping how these offences are prosecuted and perceived. Species victim impact statements articulate the harm caused by environmental crimes from an animal rights perspective, the detrimental effects on species populations, the broader ecological damage as well as the associated impact on human populations.

This in an innovative approach that introduces eco-centric concerns into anthropocentric legal systems. It has grown into an effective body of practice, leading to increased sentences for environmental crimes in countries where academics and civil society organizations promoting this tactic are operating. The GI-TOC recently published a guide on the experience of those who have successfully developed and used species victim impact statements in Hong Kong, South Africa and Zambia.

This event brings together these experts to discuss why species victim impact statements are necessary, the particular challenges for their respective jurisdictions while offering guidance to assist those looking to develop these statements for use in court.

Amanda Whitfort et al on Population Estimates and the Effect of Trap-Neuter Return Program on the Free-Roaming Dog Population in Hong Kong SAR (Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science)

"Population Estimates and the Effect of Trap-Neuter Return Program on the Free-Roaming Dog Population in Hong Kong SAR"

Hannah B Tilley, Shu Ping Ho, Fiona Woodhouse & Amanda Whitfort

Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science

Published online: 05 Aug 2023

Abstract: Free-roaming dog populations ensue from irresponsible dog ownership and abandonment. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Hong Kong SAR offers practical solutions to control dog population growth by providing a range of different birth control programs. We present the first results of a trial Trap Neuter Return (TNR) program in Hong Kong SAR; with a free-roaming dog population on Cheung Chau Island (southwest). During the 3-year study, the SPCA undertook surveys to assess population size and trapped, desexed, and, where possible, rehomed free-roaming dogs. We report that a total of 182 dogs were encountered during the period. We estimate that an average of 75% of the population was desexed, reaching the threshold for successful TNR studies. The results of our study show that TNR can assist with free-roaming dog population control and provide guidance for future programs, in Asia and Hong Kong SAR.

New HKU SPCA Study on Animal Cruelty in Hong Kong (Amanda Whitfort)

On Friday 3 September, the Law Faculty's Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort and Dr Fiona Woodhouse Deputy Director (Welfare) of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong) published an empirical study of animal cruelty cases in Hong Kong. The study was funded by the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office of the HKSAR government. It examined 335 cruelty cases in the SPCA's police investigation database from 2013 to 2019 and identified patterns of offending, including which types of animals are most at risk and in what circumstances.

Dogs were the primary victims in all categories of animal abuse. In 75% of prosecutions for active maltreatment or neglect-related cruelty the offender was male. In most cases the offender was the dog's owner or a family member of its owner. The majority of neglect cases involved mongrel dogs being abandoned inside private premises without food/water. In nearly all cases of abandonment, the animals were found alone inside rented village houses (with their owners not living on site) and, in nearly one third of cases, the animals died. In many cases the dogs found were significant in number and had been collected from strays by persons who did not have sufficient financial resources or time to care for them adequately. The study found action is necessary to educate owners to voluntarily surrender animals they can no longer care for appropriately rather than place their welfare at high risk by abandoning them. Government policies prohibiting the keeping of dogs in public housing, alongside historical dog population management strategies, have both contributed to the serious problem of abandonment of dogs in Hong Kong.

In two significant animal hoarding cases, where the dogs had started to eat each other to survive, more than 100 animals had been collected by the offenders and placed in so-called 'rescue' shelters. The shelters were accepting animals from members of the public in exchange for donations. To counter the risk to animals in unregulated shelters, there is an urgent need to introduce shelter licensing legislation. A further reason to regulate animal rescue shelters is the lack of financial transparency as to how public donations are being used.

Other findings of the study include the need for:

• a duty of care for animals to be introduced to compliment current anti-cruelty legislation;
• regulations to control grooming parlours, animal trainers and boarding facilities;
• new offences to deter animal poisoners;
• improved regulations to control the use of traps;
• a new offence to combat animals falling from heights; and
• prohibitions on mercy release of wild animals.

A full report of the study can be read on the Faculty staff webpage for Associate Professor Whitfort at https://www.law.hku.hk/academic_staff/amanda-whitfort/

Amanda Whitfort's KE work achieves OSCO amendment

Today the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance Cap 455 was amended to define smuggling of wildlife as organised and serious crime. This amendment will allow authorities to enforce the criminal law more effectively against the syndicates and kingpins behind the international trade in endangered species. Over the past 2 years over 900 tonnes of of wildlife was seized in Hong Kong. These seizures continue a decade-long upward trend that has seen the decimation of rhino, elephant and pangolin populations, globally, while the criminals funding the slaughter grow rich. The enhanced investigative and punitive powers that will now be accessible to law enforcement authorities tasked with combatting wildlife crime are a potential game changer, not just for Hong Kong, but regionally. If applied proactively, the OSCO amendment will result in critical deterrence of criminals seeking to exploit Hong Kong's porous borders to smuggle endangered species.

      Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort has worked for over 7 years to bring about this amendment. She has assisted the Wildlife Trade Working Group (a group of academics and NGOS convened by ADM Capital Foundation)in their advocacy, provided research on illegal trade to government and authored the White Paper on Enhanced Enforcement Strategies to protect Endangered Species that led Elizabeth Quat to propose the OSCO amendment as a private members bill in 2020.

      The HKU Law Faculty is also host to Whitfort's species victim impact statement initiative https://www.svis.law.hku.hk/ which aims to ensure prosecutors and judges understand the serious effects of wildlife crime on biodiversity and ecosystems globally. This project has resulted in a 2000% increase in sentences for wildlife crime since its inception in 2017.

Amanda Whitfort on New Bill Seeks to End Hong Kong’s Days as an Illegal Wildlife Trade Hub (Mongabay)

"New bill seeks to end Hong Kong’s days as an illegal wildlife trade hub"
Mongabay 
Published on 26 May 2021

In 2019, Hong Kong customs authorities inspected a cargo ship bound for Vietnam. Hidden beneath slabs of frozen meat were 8.3 metric tons of illegal scales from about 13,800 pangolins, and more than 2.1 metric tons of tusks from about 200 elephants, with a combined value of about $8 million.

     This was one of the largest wildlife seizures in Hong Kong history, but far from an isolated incident. In 2018 and 2019, Hong Kong authorities confiscated more than 649 metric tons of illegal wildlife and wildlife products across 1,404 seizures, according to a new report by Hong Kong’s ADM Capital Foundation (ADMCF). Wildlife crime is so rampant in Hong Kong ... “We’ve come to the view that this must be because we’re targeting the wrong people,” Amanda Whitfort, a barrister and law professor at the University of Hong Kong who drafted the new bill, told Mongabay in an interview. “We’re targeting the mules, the people that are replaceable, the people who’ve got 50 kilos … of rhino horn or scales of pangolins in their luggage. But we’re not getting the criminal syndicates that are behind this very lucrative transnational crime.” ... Click here to read the full text. 

New KE Initiative: HKU "Species Victim Impact Statement (SVIS) Initiative" (Amanda Whitfort)

HKU "Species Victim Impact Statement (SVIS) Initiative" : giving wildlife a voice in courts

What are Species Victim Impact Statements?
Species Impact Victim Statements (SVIS) explain to lawyers and judges the harm that wildlife crime has done to individual animals, species and ecosystems.​
      A human victim of crime can make a victim impact statement alerting the court to the harm suffered as a result of the crime.
      Non-human victims of wildlife crime have no similar voice in court. In the absence of training in ecology and conservation science, it is difficult for prosecutors and judges to assess the impact of wildlife crime.
Where harms are underestimated, defendants receive inadequate sentences that do not effectively deter wildlife offending.
     Species Victim Impact Statements help to ensure informed sentences for wildlife crimes.
 

To know more about SVIS Initiative, click: https://www.svis.law.hku.hk/

Amanda Whitfort on the Links between Wildlife Trade, Animal Health and Human Health at the Sustainability Summit

Amanda Whitfort is in the second position from the right

Amanda Whitfort spoke in mid-January 2021 on the links between wildlife trade, animal health and human health in a sustainability summit jointly organised by the Institute of International Sustainable Development, the Hong Kong Chinese Manufacturers' Association, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Consulate General of Finland. Her newest research on the links between poor animal health and welfare, wildlife trade and COVID-19 was published this week in the Journal of Environmental Law. In her article, COVID-19 and Wildlife Farming in China: Legislating to Protect Wild Animal Health and Welfare in the Wake of a Global Pandemic​ she argues that the current legal framework to protect wild animal health, and consequently human health, is not working. In a significant part, this is because there is no international agreement to protect animal welfare. The sole international reference organisation for animal health and disease control, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), recognises that animal health and welfare are inextricably linked yet international law relating to wild animals has historically focused on the conservation or the health of the animals, and, in a few instances on both, but rarely on their links with animal welfare. In the wake of COVID-19, this omission must now be rectified. Going forward decisions about animal welfare law and policy require a global vision. 

Amanda Whitfort Speaks at the 11th Asia for Animals Symposium in Dalian, China

"Asia for Animals: China conference focuses on using laws creatively to protect animals"

By Annette Gartland

Changing Times

21 October 2019

The 11th Asia for Animals (AfA) symposium, which has just taken place in Dalian, China, was focused on how laws can be used creatively to protect nonhuman animals. Delegates heard presentations from lawyers, academics, and activists from Asia, the United States, Australia, and Europe. More than four hundred people attended AfA 2019. They ranged from people working on the ground in rescue and rehabilitation organisations to animal advocates, veterinarians, scientists, government officials, scholars, and those working in education. The biennial event was this year co-organised by the Animals for Asia Coalition and the Vshine Animal Protection Association, based in Dalian.

     Speakers from China emphasised that local regulations in the country are very effective, but said that the Wildlife Protection Act was about using animals as resources rather than protection and welfare, and needed further revision. 

    National anti-cruelty legislation is urgently needed, speakers said. China’s wildlife protection legislation was revised in 2016 and now covers hunting, and selling wildlife items on the Internet. There are strong deterrent penalties and a new draft list of protected species, but the law allows commercial trade in protected wildlife and their products. Previous to the new draft, China’s wildlife conservation list had only been updated once since it was released in 1989. In 2003, the authorities upgraded the protection status for musk deer.

     Amanda Whitfort, who teaches Criminal Litigation and Animal Law at the University of Hong Kong’s Law Faculty, told AfA delegates about the use of public interest litigation in China in animal welfare cases. This, Whitfort says, has the capacity to impact very significantly on the way animal abuse is dealt with in China. China’s public interest litigation framework is extremely advanced, Whitfort says, and it is growing and gaining strength.“Since its formal adoption in 2012 Chinese environmental public interest litigation has gone beyond just recognition of individuals’ rights to sue for environmental harms and now it gives procuratorates the power to initiate actions against government officials for abuses of animals when they are combined with criminal prosecutions,” she told delegates... Click here to read the full text.

Amanda Whitfort on Wildlife Crime and Animal Victims: Improving Access to Environmental Justice in Hong Kong (forthcoming journal article)

"Wildlife Crime and Animal Victims: Improving Access to Environmental Justice in Hong Kong"

Amanda Whitfort

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, forthcoming 2020

Abstract: Wildlife crimes are often argued to be victimless, due to the anthropocentric view of crime which dominates policy and policing discourse. Falling outside the normative criminal justice lens, wildlife crimes are not frequently brought to court and lack of expertise in policing and prosecuting cases impairs their recognition as serious crimes. When wildlife offences are prosecuted, the tendency to try cases in the magistrates’ courts compounds problems with lack of judicial exposure to this specialised form of crime and limits development of judicial expertise in the field. The traditional punishments utilised for wildlife crimes have also tended to follow the trajectory for mainstream offences, focussing exclusively on the liability of the defendant (through considerations of deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation) or on the remedying of harms to the environment (via restoration and compensation). Lacking legal standing in the court process, harms caused to endangered animals (as individuals or species) have been marginalised from consideration in sentencing decisions. Recognised only as legal property, they may be forfeited or returned to their lawful owners, in accordance with the court’s findings. Focusing on recent developments in Scotland and Hong Kong, this paper argues that a more effective justice response to wildlife crime permits recognition of the interests of animals, as victims, in wildlife offences. While victim impact statements for pollution offences are received by the courts in many jurisdictions, with the notable exception of Scotland, they have not been formally recognised for animals in wildlife offences. In Scotland, prosecutors and the judiciary are now provided with expert evidence as to the range of social, economic and species harms caused by wildlife offending. Armed with knowledge of the role of animals as individual and species victims of crime, sentences may be passed which take appropriate regard of wild animal suffering, their monetary and conservation value, and the impact of their loss on biodiversity. In Hong Kong, the nature of wild animals as victims of crime has also begun to be recognised in the use of victim impact statements for wildlife offences. Victim impact statements for 33 of the most commonly smuggled animals traded into and through Hong Kong are now utilised by prosecutors in their presentation of wildlife cases at court. The use of these statements is allowing for better informed sentencing decisions in individual cases and improved environmental justice in the region.  This is output from GRF Grant No 17655316. Please contact the author (whitfort@hku.hk) to obtain the full text.

Public Consultation on Proposals to Enhance Animal Welfare in Hong Kong (Whitfort Submission)

In 2010, Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort and Dr Fiona Woodhouse Deputy Director (Welfare) of the SPCA (Hong Kong) published the Review of Animal Welfare Legislation in Hong Kong. Their review, the major output of a Public Policy Research Grant, identified serious shortcomings in the legislation protecting animals in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government has recently released a Consultation Document taking up many of the recommendations proposed in the Whitfort Woodhouse 2010 Review. In particular, the Hong Kong government is proposing to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance (Cap 169) to introduce a duty of care for animals to compliment the current anti-cruelty prohibition. Amending Cap 169 in this way was the primary recommendation that came out of the Review of Animal Welfare Legislation in Hong Kong. The amendment would provide that a person commits an offence if he does not take such steps, as are reasonable, in all the circumstances, to ensure that the needs of the animal, for which he is responsible, are met, to the extent required by good practice. 

      Whitfort has long argued that the necessity for a duty of care for all animals in Hong Kong is clear. As section 3 currently appears in Cap 169, an animal must actually suffer before an offence has been committed. Only then can any action be taken to protect the animal. This means that in cases of neglect, authorities currently have to wait until evidence of suffering is legally actionable before the animal can be, in any way, protected. Accordingly, the current law in Hong Kong does not allow for enforcement authorities to take any action at all to prevent the impending suffering of animals, despite the fact that their care is obviously inadequate. As a result, many welfare abuses go un-prosecuted. Such a situation is clearly unsatisfactory. As Whitfort's comparative studies with other jurisdictions have shown, modern animal welfare laws do not just prosecute cruelty, they actively prevent it. 

      Along with the proposal to amend Cap 169 to introduce a duty of care, the government also seeks public views on increasing the penalties for cruelty to animals, making serious cases of animal cruelty triable in the District Court as indictable offences and allowing judges to disqualify animal abusers from owning or working with animals. In response, Whitfort has made a submission to the LegCo Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene supporting these changes.

     The consultation document outlining the proposed amendments to Cap 169 is available on the government website, Proposals to Enhance Animal Welfare.  The consultation ended on 31 July 2019.

Amanda Whitfort on Animal Welfare Law, Policy and the Threat of “Ag-gag” (Food Ethics)

"Animal Welfare Law, Policy and the Threat of “Ag-gag”: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back"

Amanda Whitfort

Food Ethics

First Online: 2 May 2019, 14 pp

Abstract: As has been the case in Europe, increasing consumer demand for higher welfare products has resulted in improved conditions for farm animals raised for slaughter in the USA and Australia. Consumer awareness has been significantly aided by investigations of farm and slaughterhouse conditions by animal welfare organizations, often working undercover. These gains are now under very serious threat. In eleven states in the USA, and three in Australia, new legislation, coined “Ag-gag” law, has been enacted prohibiting public dissemination of material depicting on farm animal use. In both countries, media corporations and private citizens are liable to up to three years’ imprisonment for publishing photographs or recordings depicting the conditions of animals on farms or at slaughter. Controls on the publication of information documenting animal use compromises transparency in the food chain, erodes the accountability of those involved in the management of animals and undermines the case for enhanced legislation and policy reform. This paper describes recent legal challenges in the USA to the constitutionality of “Ag-gag” laws and evaluates “Ag-gag” laws’ impact on animal welfare in agricultural facilities in the USA and Australia.

New Study Sheds Light on Illegal Wildlife Trade in Hong Kong (Amanda Whitfort, HKU Press Release)

"New study sheds light on illegal wildlife trade in Hong Kong – A high volume and lucrative black market business"

HKU Press Release

21 January 2019

Hong Kong's illegal wildlife trade is contributing to a global extinction crisis. Every year millions of live animals, plants and their derivatives are illegally trafficked into and through Hong Kong, by transnational companies and organised crime syndicates.

     There is an urgent need for the government to enhance its current enforcement strategy against wildlife smuggling. Over the last decade, the diversity of endangered species imported into Hong Kong has increased by 57%. At the same time, the estimated value of the trade has increased by 1,600%. Since 2013, seizures of illegal ivory, pangolin scales and rhino horn have been made by Hong Kong authorities, potentially equating to the deaths of 3,000 elephants, 96,000 pangolins and 51 rhinoceros.

   Hong Kong's illegal wildlife trade is increasing in volume, underestimated in value and contributing to the global extinction crisis.

     Some members of the Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group (HKWTWG) have joined forces to publish a study focusing on the type and volume of seizures relating to illegal wildlife trade in Hong Kong over the last 5 years. The findings documented in the 200 page report: Trading in Extinction: The Dark Side of Hong Kong's Wildlife Trade, illustrate the city's central role in global wildlife trafficking and the extent and nature of the associated criminality. It identifies clearly, how future policy and enforcement could be improved to provide the urgently required long-term sustainability.

   Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort of the Faculty of Law, one of the authors of the report said: "Wildlife crime in Hong Kong remains under-policed and under-investigated. Wildlife smuggling is not regarded as organised and serious crime, under Hong Kong law. Failure to include wildlife smuggling as a crime under the Organised and Serious Crime ordinance, Cap 455, hampers authorities' powers to effectively prosecute those behind the networks and syndicates that take advantage of Hong Kong's position as a major trading port."
   "Our research indicates Hong Kong has become a hub for organised wildlife smugglers, with consequences for the international reputation of our city as well as international biodiversity," said Lisa Genasci, CEO of ADMCF, adding that "Extinction of elephants, rhino, pangolin and many other species in our lifetime is on the horizon, unless the illegal trade is stopped."  To download the report, click here.  For local media reports, see SCMP, HKEJ, Ming Pao, Oriental Daily.  The report was recently cited in an article by Daniel Cross in Sustainabiltiy Times (15 March 2019).

Amanda Whitfort and Wildlife Crimes Featured in Tatler's Inaugural Philanthropy Magazine

"Stopping the Traffic", published in Tatler's inaugural Philanthropy magazine, is being distributed in the December issue.

    Hong Kong Tatler's inaugural Philanthropy features a story focusing on activists seeking to tackle illegal wildlife trade into and through Hong Kong. One of the activists featured is HKU Law's Amanda Whitfort, who is part of a Wildlife Trade Working Group, comprised of scientists, lawyers, and NGOs, which was set up by ADM Capital Foundation in 2015 to share expertise and strategy on reducing Hong Kong's role as a hub for wildlife trafficking in Asia. 

    A research grant, funded by the Research Grants Council, which was awarded to Whitfort and Dr Fiona Woodhouse of the SPCA in 2016, has enabled them to prepare a public report on how Hong Kong's laws can be improved to thwart trade in the region. Interpol and UNODC regard international trafficking of endangered species as a form of organised and serious crime.  The new report will recommend wildlife crime be included in Schedule 1 to Hong Kong's Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, Cap 455. The full report is near completion and will be released through by HKU Law, in early 2019.​

Amanda Whitfort on the Duty to Prevent Harm to Children and Animals (Adelaide Law Review)

"Justice and the vulnerable: Extending the duty to prevent serious crimes against children to the protection of agricultural and research animals"

Amanda Whitfort
Adelaide Law Review
2018, Volume 39, Issue 1

Abstract: Commencing in 2004, the United Kingdom, South Australia, and New Zealand have each introduced new laws to protect children from serious harm within the home. Members of a household in these jurisdictions living with a child can now be held accountable for neglecting to seek help or take preventative action if the child is killed or seriously injured. The new duty to protect children from serious crime within the home recognises the special vulnerability of victims within a closed environment. In New Zealand, the duty specifically extends to staff of institutions where children reside. In the same period, legislation has been expanded to protect animals from acts of negligence, as well as overt cruelty. In practice, however, many of the protections introduced do not apply to animals used in agriculture and research. Legal protection for farm animals has been further eroded by the introduction of so called 'ag-gag' laws. Historically, the recognition of the special vulnerability of children and animals caused their legal protections to develop in tandem. This article examines the case for extending the duty to prevent serious violent crimes against children in the home, to animals in laboratories, abattoirs and on farms. It concludes that effective protection of animals requires the imposition of a new legislative duty to prevent their unlawful serious harm.

Amanda Whitfort's Letter to the Editor on Wildlife Crimes (SCMP)

"Hong Kong must not let response to endangered pangolin mirror ivory trade shame"

10 September, 2018

South China Morning Post

I write to congratulate the Hong Kong government’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and Customs and Excise Department on the success of their 10-week operation to combat endangered species smuggling. The joint operation resulted in seizures of HK$19 million (US$2.4 million) in suspected endangered species, as well as 82 arrests.

     This shows the impact proper resourcing would likely have on combating wildlife crime within the territory. With Hong Kong’s annual seizures in endangered species routinely valued as second only to dangerous drugs, isn’t it time the agriculture and customs departments were given sufficient human resources and legislative powers to pursue wildlife offences with as much vigilance as police pursue triad and drug crimes?

      This should start with amending our Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance to target endangered species smuggling. With more adequate powers and resources, we could also start policing the pangolin market.

     As noted in your story, “How Hong Kong shops manage to cash in on pangolin scales” (September 5), traders in Hong Kong do not need permits to sell pangolin scales. While we wait around for the legislative amendment raising pangolin species to Appendix 1 (banning the unlicensed sale of pangolin scales) to take effect in November – two years after 182 countries agreed on a total pangolin trade ban at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species – the world’s most trafficked mammal is quickly going extinct.

      This year alone, the authorities have netted over 15 tonnes of smuggled scales within the city. Hong Kong’s role in the extinction of the pangolin should not be a repeat of our shamefully tardy response to ivory trade.  Written by Amanda Whitfort.

HKU Legal Scholar Urges New Animal Welfare Law in Hong Kong

"HKU legal scholar urges new Animal Welfare Law in Hong Kong"

HKU Press Invitation - 27 April 2018. Associate Law Professor Amanda Whitfort of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will renew her call on the Hong Kong government to expeditiously introduce a duty of care to benefit all animals in the city at the III Global Animal Law Conference to be held on HKU campus on May 4 and 5, 2018.

     Associate Professor Whitfort will present a paper The 2010 HKU/SPCA Review of Animal Welfare Legislation in HK: Where are we now and where do we need to be? in the first session of the conference at 10:20 am on May 4, Friday.

     The replacement of Cap 169, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance with a new Animal Welfare Law, which imposes a positive duty of care for animals was the primary recommendation for law reform in the HKU-SPCA Review of Animal Welfare Legislation in Hong Kong published by Associate Professor Whitfort and Dr Fiona Woodhouse in 2010. On the back of the findings in that report the government has amended Cap 139B to introduce a duty of care for dogs in commercial breeding, which came into effect in March 2017.

     While the introduction of a duty of care towards breeding dogs is an important first step, the amendments in Cap 139B only effect a limited number of animals. The amended law does not apply to other species or to animals kept as pets, or for other reasons. Only with the full implementation of the report’s primary recommendation to replace Cap 169 with a new Animal Welfare Law, will Hong Kong law be in a position to adequately address the instances of cruelty and poisonings seen in the territory in recent weeks.

     Professor Mike Radford of the University of Aberdeen, who was instrumental in assisting the UK government in incorporating duty of care provisions in the United Kingdom’s Animal Welfare Act in 2006, will present his paper on 'A Duty to Care: the case for animal welfare legislation' on the second day of the conference on May 5, Saturday at 9:10am. Members of the media are invited to cover the Conference.

Date:    May 4 and 5, 2018 (Friday and Saturday)
Venue:  Large Moot Court, 2/F., Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

    Amanda Whitfort was recently interviewed on RTHK Radio's 123 Show with Noreen Mir (2 May 2018). To listen to Whitfort's RTHK Podcast (15 minutes) on Animal Cruelty Law with Annalie Chow, click here (2 May 2018).  Whitfort was also interviewed on RTHK's Newswrap on 4 May 2018.

Global Animal Law Conference @ HKU (4-5 May 2018)

III Global Animal Law Conference hosted by HKU Faculty of Law will be held on 4-5 May 2018 (Fri-Sat) at Large Moot Court, 2/f, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, the University of Hong Kong. The purpose of this Conference is to bring together experienced legal thinkers and writers in the area of animal law, in order to learn about how the different legal systems of the world are dealing with animal issues in their respective countries. Speakers from 17 countries, representing over 20 universities will be present.  Many of the speakers have authored important books and articles in the area of animal law. Most of the speakers come from a legal academic background. Sponsoring academic institutions are The University of Hong Kong Law Faculty, Michigan State University College of Law Animal Law Program, Lewis and Clark School of Law Center for Animal Law Studies, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona Masters in Animal Law, and Harvard Law School Animal Law and Policy Program. 

 To view the Conference details, please click here. To register, please click here.  For enquiries, please contact Ms Winnie Law at winniewm@hku.hk.

Amanda Whitfort Interviewed on the Welfare of Dogs in The Year of the Dog (RTHK's The Pulse)

CNY Special: Lai Chi Wo Hakka Culture & Welfare of Dogs
RTHK Radio 31: The Pulse

17 Feb 2018

Summary: It’s the Year of the Dog, and in Chinese iconography, dogs symbolise good luck, loyalty, obedience, prosperity, and a promise of friendship. But their relationship with humans isn’t always an easy one. Not only are they – often brutally - killed and eaten in some Asian countries, including China, commercial breeders and pet shops are known to confine them in particularly distressing conditions, and would-be owners are not even allowed to keep them in many Hong Kong housing estates. Things are looking up, as more people across Asia and locally are adopting dogs and looking out for their welfare. As anyone who lives with them knows, they often give back at least as much affection and trust as they receive.

   In this special episode of The Pulse, Amanda Whitfort shares her thoughts on why breeders should be obligated to have a duty of care, the need for animal welfare legislation in Hong Kong, and penalties for those who breach animal welfare laws. Click here to view the interview.