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Poison patrol After the death of Mia Fong’s dog Gamma, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Nicole Slater reports. to collect this information and create a Google Map layer showing the exact locations where poisoned bait has been found. I’m currently asking people to come forward with information on where their pets may have been poisoned or where found poisoned bait.” Since starting the community organisation, Gamma.hkg has now gathered a following of over 450 people and Hong Kong’s dog community has come together to help. “Even before I set up Gamma.hkg, friends sent touching messages to us. Gamma had a lot of friends in our neighbourhood who sent us flowers, baked goods, hand-written notes and one amazing poem. We felt so uplifted by their kindness.” While everyone grieves differently, Fong decided to channel her anger into a good cause. “I think anyone who has had a pet maliciously and senselessly killed like this would be angry. I am angry, but I’m channeling my energy into being productive,” she says. “I won’t get Gamma back but doing this work gives others a chance to have a longer time with their pets.” The community group has began hosting its group walks to patrol four main areas around Hong Kong that have had cases of poisonings. “If people can take part in this cause or simply talk to their friends and fellow dog lovers about it, I think we have a chance at claiming back our dog parks and trails.”
Over the past few months, a large number of dog poisoning cases have occurred around Cyberport Waterfront Park. A total of 15 dogs so far have been poisoned with eight of them sadly passing away. One of those unfortunate cases was a golden retriever named Gamma. The much-loved family dog consumed spam laced with poison at the park in early February. “We were so busy going through the motions of paying the hospital bill, filing a police report that there wasn’t much time to process what happened the day she died,” said Gamma’s owner, Mia Fong. It wasn’t until two weeks later that Fong decided to do something about it. “I wrote a post on my social media about Gamma’s murder. I wanted it to serve as a warning to
those walking their dogs in the area. We never thought it would happen to us but it did.” With a mission to prevent any more dogs from being harmed, Fong set up a neighbourhood watch Facebook and Instagram group @Gamma.hkg, to help patrol Hong Kong’s parks, neighbourhoods and hiking trails. Fong encourages dog lovers to report and remove poisoned bait from those areas. “What we need are more people on the ground, actively looking for potentially poisoned bait. I am not asking for more followers on social media, but am using it as a tool to help the pet community,” says Fong. “Usually when people find poisoned bait they take a photo and send it to a dog rescue group, who circulate it via social media. I want
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