SPCA 香港愛護動物協會

The Veterinary Services Department employs an enthusiastic team of around 100 staff, including more than 25 veterinary surgeons, 30 veterinary nurses and assistants, 34 customer service and retail personnel,4 groomers and 4 admin support staff.

• Our veterinary surgeons come from all over the globe and embrace special interests in areas as diverse as acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, orthopaedic surgery, cattle medicine, ophthalmology, dermatology, ultrasonography and chemotherapy.
• Our veterinary nurses and assistants perform a wide variety of duties which includes assisting in consultations and surgeries, translation, daily nursing care for hospitalised animals, maintenance of surgical equipment and performing laboratory tests.
• The backbone of the Veterinary Services Department is our Customer Service team providing a vital link between our veterinary staff and members. The team consists of over 30 trained, bilingual and motivated staff located throughout our SPCA centres. Our frontline team is on hand to give advice regarding a wide range of suitable products for your pet.
• Our 4 professionally trained groomers provide a high quality grooming (anything from a quick nail trim to a full body clip). Our "salons" are located at our Hong Kong and Kowloon centres.
• With such a busy workload our admin staff provide vital support to the Vet Services Department, for example licensing, stock procurement, management, and purchasing.

Since our formation in 1921 the SPCA has always been a leader in pioneering animal welfare principles and combatting animal cruelty in Hong Kong.

The SPCA is constantly working towards achieving our Mission and Vision by:

• Providing caring and quality veterinary services for companion animals (of all species).
• Finding loving homes for abandoned and unwanted animals.
• Helping to reduce animal overpopulation through education and animal birth control initiatives such as our Cat Colony Care and Mongrel Dog Desexing Programmes.
• Educating students and members of public in respect for life and animal welfare concepts.
• Operating a 24-hour Inspectorate Team. Rescuing injured and trapped animals, inspecting animal trading establishments, responding to complaints of cruelty and prosecuting where necessary.

Hong Kong has witnessed a massive increase in pet ownership in recent decades, pets are becoming an integral part of the family unit. However, pet keeping can be challenging in a busy, urban citylike Hong Kong, and it is vital to ensure harmony in the community between pet owners and non-pet owners. To enhance this harmony the SPCA Community Development Team advocates responsible pet keeping in housing estates, promotes access for dogs in public areas, and actively lobbies government officials and councilors to improve animal welfare in all areas.

The SPCA is highly committed to providing both internal and external courses for its staff. Since 2001 all veterinary nursing staff have studied an internationally recognised Australian Veterinary Nursing Course. Originally lectures were provided on a weekly basis out of clinic hours by SPCA vets to assist staff taking the course. In 2006/07 we extended the level of veterinary nurse training offered to our staff to include Certificate II and Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing to further improve on the quality of our service.

From August 2007 we also enhanced our training to include frontline customer service and welfare staff with the introduction of a Certificate I in Animal Studies.

Ms. Becky Lin (Manager of Veterinary Nurse Training and Development) returned to Hong Kong in February 2005 having spent 2 years in the UK studying veterinary nursing at the College of Animal Welfare in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. She was at the time the first local veterinary nurse to attain this qualification. Becky is heavily involved in formulating internal courses for kennel keepers, inspectors and customer service staff as well as overseeing the training program for our veterinary nurses.