Horticulturalists express alarm after award-winning Matt Keightley launches app that can automate designsWith glasses of champagne sipped among the peonies, Chelsea flower show is generally a friendly and genteel occasion. But this year, the secateurs have been drawn as gardeners clash over the use of AI in designing the exhibits.Matt Keightley, an award-winning designer who has created gardens for figures including Prince Harry, is using artificial intelligence to design his garden for the pres
Horticulturalists express alarm after award-winning Matt Keightley launches app that can automate designs
With glasses of champagne sipped among the peonies, Chelsea flower show is generally a friendly and genteel occasion. But this year, the secateurs have been drawn as gardeners clash over the use of AI in designing the exhibits.
Matt Keightley, an award-winning designer who has created gardens for figures including Prince Harry, is using artificial intelligence to design his garden for the prestigious show, held at the Royal Hospital gardens in Chelsea, London, next week.
By Tim Pit Hok-yau
Last month, the Office of the Ombudsman released its long-awaited investigation into the Hong Kong government’s work in combating animal cruelty.
Jack Chan, the Ombudsman, announces the report investigating the Hong Kong government’s work in combating animal cruelty on April 16, 2026. Photo: The Office of the Ombudsman.
The report was prompted by a series of horrifying abuse cases which, in the Ombudsman’s own words, “amount to a deliberate trampling on the dignity
Last month, the Office of the Ombudsman released its long-awaited investigation into the Hong Kong government’s work in combating animal cruelty.
Jack Chan, the Ombudsman, announces the report investigating the Hong Kong government’s work in combating animal cruelty on April 16, 2026. Photo: The Office of the Ombudsman.
The report was prompted by a series of horrifying abuse cases which, in the Ombudsman’s own words, “amount to a deliberate trampling on the dignity of life and run wholly contrary to the very conscience of a civilised society.”
The investigation focuses primarily on the failures of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), which is responsible for animal management and welfare.
Among the key findings are the AFCD’s inefficient investigations and insufficient prosecutions. Out of 1,633 reports of suspected animal cruelty from 2020 to June 2025, only six prosecutions were brought – a striking, though not new, statistic.
The AFCD responded to the Ombudsman, saying that the majority of reports it received pertained to noise or nuisance complaints rather than cruelty. However, media reports on animal cruelty, including a recent shocking case of a 14-year-old student sharing online photos and videos of cat abuse, may suggest otherwise.
Other problems highlighted by the Ombudsman’s report include weak enforcement powers; inconsistent case handling; poor internal monitoring and staff training; delayed reform of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance (Cap. 169), first promised in 2019; and alarmingly low penalties for illegal animal traps, which currently carry a maximum fine of HK$50,000 with no provision for imprisonment.
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department logo. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.
These are important findings, and the Ombudsman deserves credit for highlighting institutional deficiencies that animal advocates have raised for years.
But while the report has identified some of the government’s major failures, it also reveals a deeper problem: Hong Kong’s approach to animal welfare remains fundamentally reactive rather than preventive, with most suggestions focusing on punishment, not prevention.
Worse still, the report overlooks many of the structural and everyday forms of animal plight that are normalised across the city. This article, then, intends to address these blind spots.
Duty of care
The most glaring limitation of the investigative report concerns its ambivalence over nudging the government to implement a “duty of care.”
While the Ombudsman acknowledges that the government has struggled to reach consensus on this proposal, it stops short of urging its adoption. This hesitation matters.
The Office of the Ombudsman. Photo: Peter Lee/HKFP.
A duty of care would fundamentally shift existing animal law from punishing cruelty after suffering occurs to preventing suffering in the first place. Without such a framework, Hong Kong continues to operate on an outdated logic: authorities intervene only after visible injury, starvation, or death.
If a cat falls from an unprotected high-rise window, or a dog is chronically confined in a tiny flat with little exercise or social contact, the current legal framework can hardly intervene until obvious harm has already occurred.
With a duty of care, caregivers would be legally required to provide appropriate food, shelter, veterinary care, and living conditions that meet animals’ physical and behavioural needs safely. In other common law jurisdictions, including the UK and Australia, duty of care provisions have already become a cornerstone of animal protection.
Undoubtedly, one of the report’s recommendations is to “further strengthen outreach and education in schools, helping students and young people build an awareness of animal protection from childhood.”
This is a fantastic recommendation for preventing animal cruelty, but it remains frustratingly vague. What kind of education are we talking about?
Dogs in Hong Kong. File photo: GovHK.
If Hong Kong genuinely wants to cultivate respect for animals, it must first confront contradictions in the current education system.
Attending a local secondary school, I still remember many science classes where animal dissection was presented as a normal part of learning, from dissecting ox eyes to hearing classmates describe experiments on mice.
These activities are still recommended by the Education Bureau’s Biology Curriculum and Assessment Guide, although the government also expects secondary school students to “learn about how humans can live in harmony with animals and show respect for all living things” in the very same subject.
Humane education
Not only do such laboratory practices risk reinforcing a worldview in which animals exist primarily as instruments for human use, but the pedagogical value of animal dissection has been convincingly challenged by a large corpus of research.
Yet, the issue is perhaps just one of the many voids in our education system that should help enhance animal well-being and stop the everyday exploitation of animals. Learning about veganism, the intersection between animal exploitation and other social problems, conservation, and other elements of animal education are equally important.
Humane education should equip citizens with the ability to locate the many practices of cruelty against animals in Hong Kong, many of which the Ombudsman’s report says nothing about.
Of course, the development projects and human activities that disrupt animals’ habitats should not be ignored. Just think of how Chinese white dolphins have lost their habitat because of reclamation or been injured because of high-speed ferries’ propeller blades, to name just one example.
Whether one supports these institutions and projects or not, it is difficult to argue that they fall outside the conversation on animal welfare.
A Chinese white dolphin spotted in the southern part of Lantau on September 10, 2021. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.
The government’s poor animal management policies in urban areas are another major omission in the Ombudsman’s investigation. The report rightly condemns illegal animal traps but ignores government-led practices that also cause suffering, including the wild boar culling operations.
If Hong Kong truly wants to become a “civilised” city that respects life, then animal welfare cannot be confined to criminal prosecutions of isolated abuse cases. It must also confront the legal, educational, economic, and cultural systems that normalise animal suffering in everyday life and prevent it from happening in the first place.
Another step that must be taken to safeguard animals’ well-being is to ask a harder question: What kinds of relationships do we, as a city, continue to build with the animals who live among us?
As philosopher Martha Nussbaum reminds us, animal justice should not be measured simply by the absence of cruelty, but by whether animals can actualise the capabilities essential to their flourishing.
For dogs, that includes play, movement, and social bonding. For dolphins, it means the ability to hunt, communicate, and live within their natural habitat. Survival alone is not welfare; a decent life is.
The Ombudsman’s report is an important step. But it should not be mistaken for an ultimate solution. Rather, it should remind us that there is always more that we – as policymakers, educators, and citizens – must do.
HKFP is an impartial platform & does not necessarily share the views of opinion writers or advertisers. HKFP presents a diversity of views & regularly invites figures across the political spectrum to write for us. Press freedom is guaranteed under the Basic Law, security law, Bill of Rights and Chinese constitution. Opinion pieces aim to constructively point out errors or defects in the government, law or policies, or aim to suggest ideas or alterations via legal means without an intention of hatred, discontent or hostility against the authorities or other communities.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Operating hours for 10 public parks under the management of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will be extended, with parks opening earlier from 5.30am until 10 pm to provide city residents with more opportunities for leisure and recreational activities.Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh said Perdana Botanical Gardens, Titiwangsa Lake Gardens, Kepong Metropolitan Park, Permaisuri Lake Gardens, Bukit Jali
KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Operating hours for 10 public parks under the management of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will be extended, with parks opening earlier from 5.30am until 10 pm to provide city residents with more opportunities for leisure and recreational activities.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh said Perdana Botanical Gardens, Titiwangsa Lake Gardens, Kepong Metropolitan Park, Permaisuri Lake Gardens, Bukit Jalil Park, Menjalara Lake Gardens, Pudu Ulu Park, Alam Damai Recreational Park, Ampang Hilir Lake Gardens, and Danau Kota Lake Gardens will all open at 5.30 am.
“The operating hours for Perdana Botanical Gardens and Titiwangsa Lake Gardens will also be extended until midnight every Friday and Saturday to allow the public to enjoy recreational activities at night,” she said in a statement today.
She said the implementation of the new operating hours takes into account community usage patterns, especially among working individuals, senior citizens, and those who prefer early morning exercise in a cooler and less crowded environment.
She added that aspects such as park cleanliness, area lighting, maintenance of public toilets, security control, and coordination of field personnel were also considered to ensure public facilities can be used comfortably and safely.
“In increasingly fast-paced and challenging urban life, green spaces and public parks play an important role in the physical and mental well-being of society,” she said.
Hannah also said that apart from Kuala Lumpur, several promenades, public fields, and parks under the management of Putrajaya Corporation and Labuan Corporation will also open as early as 5.30am, including the Persiaran Perdana Promenade in Precinct 2 and the Public Field in Precinct 9 in Putrajaya, as well as Labuan Square Public Field and Labuan Botanical Garden. — Bernama
Hong Kong residential estate Richland Gardens has sparked controversy after announcing the hiring of non-local workers as security guards.
The owners’ corporation of Richland Gardens – a government-subsidised housing estate in Kowloon Bay – announced on Threads on Monday that its management company was training a group of “non-local security guards,” who started working on Monday.
Non-local security guard training at Richland Gardens, a residential estate in Kowloon Bay, in April 2026. Ph
Hong Kong residential estate Richland Gardens has sparked controversy after announcing the hiring of non-local workers as security guards.
The owners’ corporation of Richland Gardens – a government-subsidised housing estate in Kowloon Bay – announced on Threads on Monday that its management company was training a group of “non-local security guards,” who started working on Monday.
Non-local security guard training at Richland Gardens, a residential estate in Kowloon Bay, in April 2026. Photo: Richland Gardens, via Threads.
The announcement also included a photo of 30 security guards in blue and black uniforms.
According to the owners’ corporation, most of the security guards came from Guangdong province and are fluent in Cantonese. They have also obtained certificates after completing relevant security training courses in Hong Kong.
The estate’s management company turned to non-local hires after finding it difficult to hire full-time local security guards, the Threads post said.
“Most Hong Kong security guards prefer to work part-time. After the management company took over security work in 2023, it had seen a turnover of more than 200 security guards,” the Chinese-language post read.
The move has sparked criticism online, with netizens questioning why the estate chose to hire non-local workers amid the rising unemployment rate in the city.
Some asked whether the management company turned to non-local hiring to save labour costs.
Richland Gardens. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
In the Facebook group “We Are Richland Garden-ers,” some netizens said they were worried about the estate’s security, as they could not verify if the non-local workers had committed any crimes in mainland China.
The owners’ corporation defended the hiring and denied it was to save costs, saying that the salaries of non-local security guards are “similar” to those of local staff.
Richland Gardens’ management company is Pacific Extend, according to the owners’ corporation.
Last year, Pacific Extend – a subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate Shui On Group’s SOCAM Development – was acquired by Chinese firm Wuhan Tianyuan Property Management, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported.
Expanded schemes for non-local workers
In 2023, the Hong Kong government increased the quota for non-local workers in the construction and transport industries and in residential care homes, citing a labour shortage.
Restaurant workers in Hong Kong. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
It also launched the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) in September 2023, which allows Hong Kong employers to import workers for 26 types of jobs that were previously only open to local residents, such as security guards, cashiers, hair stylists, sales assistants, and waiters.
In January, the labour and welfare chief Chris Sun told the legislature that as of December 31, a total of 96,195 non-local workers had been approved to work in Hong Kong, including 4,984 working as security guards.
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