Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: tireless chairwoman nominated for helping dogs have better life
- Safe haven houses 200 dogs and provides medical care, desexing, vaccination and rehabilitation
- Every single dog that comes through my gate is lucky, Narelle Pamuk says
Narelle Pamuk is tireless when it comes to helping dogs in Hong Kong to have a better life.
Since 2007, the chairwoman and operator of the Sai Kung Stray Friends Foundation has been rescuing and rehoming abandoned, sick and injured dogs in the city. The organisation provides medical care, desexing, vaccination and rehabilitation.
The home for dogs she created in eastern New Territories is a safe haven for about 200 canines.
“Every single dog that comes through my gate here is a lucky dog,” Pamuk said. “They will get a chance of a better life.”
Apart from feeding and housing the homeless canines, the foundation puts a lot of work into keeping its furry charges clean and healthy. Its staff also built stronger kennels to shelter the animals from storms.
Over the years, Pamuk has faced lots of emotional and financial difficulties trying to keep the home open. She has had to deal with skeptical people and pay the rising bills.
Running a fast-expanding home as an individual proved unsustainable, prompting Pamuk to register it as a charity in 2014 in the hopes of receiving more support and donations from the public.
Pamuk said the foundation currently needed more manpower as well as funding to keep it running.
“It’s been really tough to keep surviving,” she said.
Yet the idea of aborting the rescue work has never crossed the chairwoman’s mind.
“We have a great way forward,” Pamuk said, adding that the foundation continued to receive support from the dog-loving community and local corporations.
Her endeavours to rehome stray dogs have earned her a nomination at this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards.
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The annual event, co-organised by the South China Morning Post and property developer Sino Group, recognises remarkable people whose accomplishments may otherwise go unnoticed.
Winnie Wong Man-wai and Marie Louise Kirk, both volunteers at the foundation, recommended Pamuk for the Spirit of Community Award, which honours individuals who dedicate time and energy to making the city a better place.
Pamuk has been working on a trap-neuter-return rescue mission since May 2021 to stop the uncontrolled breeding of free-roaming fish farm dogs near the border between Hong Kong and mainland China. She tried to educate fish farm workers to be responsible and care for the dogs they kept on their sites instead of leaving them to battle for survival.
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The chairwoman said she believed education was the way forward and offered a hands-on experience to visitors, schools and firms to raise public awareness of animal welfare. In her view, while the dog population needs to be regulated, euthanasia is never a humane option.
She is optimistic that dog desexing can help alleviate the problem.
Noting that it was dog owners’ responsibility to desex their dogs, Pamuk said she would continue to increase public awareness of the procedure’s importance.
