Hong Kong’s real-life Isle of Dogs, and the volunteers who help care for unwanted pets left to die
Pets dumped on islands near Sai Kung face death from starvation, lack of water, disease or attacks by feral packs; a group of volunteers tries to help by feeding, trapping and neutering dogs and taking sick ones to be euthanised
In filmmaker Wes Anderson’s new animated comedy Isle of Dogs , Japan’s entire canine population is banished to a fictional Trash Island following a deadly outbreak of dog flu.
A similar scenario is playing out on islands off the town of Sai Kung, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, which have become a dumping ground for unwanted pet dogs. The dogs face a fight for survival against packs of hardy feral ones.
In Anderson’s film, 12-year-old Atari comes to the rescue. In the Hong Kong seaside town, it’s a team of five volunteers.
People who dump the dogs think they will be happy on the island. No they won’t. They have no water, no food.
One is David Roche, 72, a former fund manager and a resident of Sai Kung who discovered dogs running wild on the islands 12 years ago. The kayak enthusiast surveyed eight of the islands closest to Sai Kung town and was shocked to find about 80 dogs living on them.
Some were obviously the feral descendants of abandoned dogs from floating fish farms and piggeries that used to operate on the islands. But a quarter of them, Roche estimated by their condition, were abandoned pets doomed to a cruel death.
Most dogs that are dumped will die within seven or eight days, Roche says. “They can’t survive here,” he says, without naming the islands in case it encourages other owners to abandon pets on them.
“People who dump the dogs think they will be happy on the island. No they won’t. They have no water, no food. They have tick and mosquito diseases, and they get attacked by other dogs.”
