| Abstract | There was celebration in the offices of the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) when an Eastern district magistrate handed down the maximum possible fine to a man who had left his two dogs to starve in a locked shop. The man was fined HK$5,000 each on two counts of cruelty. This maximum penalty is seldom applied, and it is the first time that it has been applied in a prosecution instigated by the RSPCA. The law sets out maximum penalties for animal cruelty offences. Time and again offenders who have committed acts of terrible cruelty, even those resulting in animals' deaths, receive slaps on the wrist. Sometimes offenders with records of prior offences receive lesser fines for the later offences. |
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