Eighty-four pets remain missing after a deadly blaze in Hong Kong’s Tai Po neighbourhood that claimed 159 lives, according to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), which has called on authorities to place food, water and traps inside the charred ruins to help rescue any surviving animals.
SPCA head of inspectorate Marsha Chun said on Tuesday that although placing such support inside the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court might not lead to the recovery of any pets, it would still offer “a glimmer of hope for their owners”.
“Police’s Disaster Victim Identification Unit [DVIU] completed the search for animals last Thursday and recovered many remains, but we cannot rule out the possibility that some animals may have escaped on their own during the rescue operation,” Chun told a radio programme.
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“We hope officers could help us place water, food and traps in different buildings, so the pets could survive and be found by us.”
She said some pets were discovered by officers in adjacent flats rather than their own units, suggesting that a number may have managed to escape and survive on their own.
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Chun said the organisation had reached out to the owners of all 84 missing pets, some of whom were devastated while others remained calm.
“An owner called us a few hours later, saying he wished to go back to the ruins and find his dog’s remains after access to the building was reopened,” Chun recalled.