SHIRLEY ZHAO SHIRLEY.ZHAO@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 09 September, 2015, 1:54pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 09 September, 2015, 1:54pm
Holly, Herbact, Hardos and Happy were born in March. Photo: Nora Tam
Hong Kong may see the birth of a second batch of locally-born guide dogs for visually impaired people around the end of this year, a charity aiming to meet the city’s huge demand for their services said today.
The news came as the city’s first four locally-born guide dogs, Holly, Herbact, Hardos and Happy, were appointed ambassadors for an upcoming charity fundraising concert to develop guide dog services.
The four dogs were born in March and have been living with four families to familiarise themselves with people.
Raymond Cheung Wai-man, chairman of the Seeing Eye Dog Services, said the organisation had identified two dogs that would reach the age of one around the end of this year and would be suitable for breeding.
He said the two dogs had passed physical and psychological examinations required for breeding guide dogs.
“The technology in breeding seeing-eye dogs has become more and more mature,” he said. “In fact, if we need to further promote the breeding and training of seeing-eye dogs in Hong Kong, we must realise localisation.”
Robert Ip Cheuk-hung, marketing director of Konica Minolta Business Solutions Hong Kong, organiser of this year’s Konica Minolta Green Concert, said the event aimed to raise at least HK$1 million for local guide dog breeding.
“We hope this event can let more people understand the demand for local seeing-eye dogs,” Ip said. “We hope the government, organisations and individuals can all support this cause.”
Official figures show that there were more than 174,000 visually impaired people in the city last year.
Cheung said there were only 35 guide dogs for this large group of people in need. He said the services now had 19 guide dogs – mostly Labradors – including six that were already in service, two breeding dogs and 11 in training.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1856639/puppy-love-second-batch-hong-kong-born-guide-dogs
