Hong Kong is many things: loud, relentless, God-damn'd expensive, occasionally incomprehensible, and — if you look past the neon signs and the skyscrapers — genuinely, quietly full of people doing extraordinary work for the animals who share this very crowded city with us. Here are the seven organisations you should know about, support, and if your building allows it, adopt from.
Full disclosure: I am not objective about this topic; we got our rescue from LAP. I have been feeding, worrying about, and advocating for Hong Kong's animals for as long as memory conveniently serves. And nearly 12 years ago, a small tuxedo cat named Lotte, who we renamed BillyJean, occasionally Chairman Meow, Billay, and the various other names I've yelled out over the years as she's chewed up my headphones, saved our lives in ways I can't explain. Find her on Instagram at @billyjean_kitty_cat, where she has significantly better lighting than I do. She came from Lifelong Animal Protection Charity — and you can read more about them below.
But first, let's talk about the full landscape, because Hong Kong's animal welfare sector is varied, hardworking, underfunded, and frankly heroic. Several organisations have had to close or consolidate in recent years — this city's high rents and donor fatigue are real — so everything in this list has been verified as active in 2025-26. If your favourite charity isn't here, check their social media before donating; the landscape shifts faster than a typhoon signal going from 3 to 9.
1. SPCA Hong Kong (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
Established: 1903 | Registered Charity |
Website: spca.org.hk | Instagram: @spcahk (68K followers) | Facebook: fb.com/spcahk
Donate: spca.org.hk/en/donate — online, FPS, cheque, bank transfer
Emergency Hotline: 2711 1000 (24 hours)
If the animal welfare world in Hong Kong has a founding father — or mother, depending on how you look at it — it is the SPCA. Founded in 1903, the SPCA Hong Kong is the city's largest and most comprehensive animal welfare organisation, and the first charity in Hong Kong to deal with the full spectrum of animal welfare concerns. It started as a volunteer effort to protect livestock — yes, there were actual farms here once — and has evolved into a 26-vet-surgeon operation with centres across the island, Kowloon, and the New Territories, a 24-hour emergency hotline, and a newly opened SPCA Jockey Club Centennial Centre at Tsing Yi that is, frankly, more impressive than most hospitals I have visited.
In 2022-23 alone, they rescued 4,658 injured or trapped animals and answered over 22,000 calls on their hotline. What separates the SPCA from the smaller charities is scale: vet services, behaviour training, foster networks, education programmes in schools, anti-cruelty enforcement working alongside the police, and a full advocacy function lobbying for better animal welfare laws.
The fly in the ointment has always been their euthanasia policy — the SPCA does euthanise animals that cannot be rehomed within a given period, which is a point of ongoing contention with the no-kill sector — but they are transparent about this and have been working to reduce the numbers. They get 1% of their funding from the government and raise the rest themselves, which is either admirable or scandalous depending on your view of the government. Probably both.
2. Hong Kong Dog Rescue (HKDR)
Established: 2003 | Registered Charity No. 91/15212
Website: hongkongdogrescue.com | Instagram: @hkdr_official (54K followers) | Facebook: 123K likes
Donate: hongkongdogrescue.com/donate — online, FPS, bank transfer, monthly giving
Founded in 2003 by Sally Andersen — a woman whose tenacity and love for dogs is, frankly, staggering — Hong Kong Dog Rescue was set up for one specific reason: to pull dogs from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department's Animal Management Centres, where at that time approximately 7,000 dogs a year were being destroyed, many of them family pets that had been abandoned in country parks or surrendered by owners who simply did not want to deal with them anymore.
The four-day window before a dog was killed was the clock HKDR was racing against. More than 10,000 dogs later, HKDR is now Hong Kong's largest and most visible dog rescue, operating out of a main Homing Centre in Tai Po and a smaller centre in Ap Lei Chau, with over 600 dogs waiting for homes at any given time.
What sets them apart is their absolute no-kill commitment — no dog in HKDR's care will ever be euthanised unless it is the only humane option — and their education programmes, which include workshops, online seminars, and monthly Positive Partners Training Courses designed to stop the cycle of abandonment before it starts. They are almost entirely funded by donations, merchandise, and fundraising events. There is no government subsidy. You can sponsor a specific dog through the Life Saver Club for as little as HK$200 a month — and I promise you, the update photos of your sponsored dog will become a non-trivial part of your emotional life.
3. LAP — Lifelong Animal Protection Charity ★ Personal Favourite
Established: 2003 | Registered Charity | No-Kill | Fully volunteer-run
Website: lap.org.hk | Facebook: @lap.org.hk (74.5K likes)
Donate: lap.org.hk/donate.aspx — PayPal, PayMe, bank transfer, cheque
Cat Adoption Centre: 11 First Street, Sai Ying Pun | Dog Adoption Centre: Allway Gardens Block E, 187 Tsuen King Circuit, Tsuen Wan
I am, in the most transparent possible way, biased about LAP. Nearly 12 years ago I walked into their cat adoption centre on First Street in Sai Ying Pun and met a small, wildly opinionated tuxedo cat who looked at me with the expression of someone deciding whether I was worth their time. Reader, she decided I was. She was home delivered and became BillyJean — also known as whatever name I am using when I need her to stop sitting on my laptop. She is, still, nearly 12 years later, my greatest Hong Kong acquisition. Find her on Instagram at @billyjean_kitty_cat. You're welcome.
LAP was founded in 2003 by Sheila McClelland — herself a co-founder of Hong Kong Dog Rescue, who subsequently left to build something that could help all animals, not just dogs — and is run entirely by volunteers with zero paid staff. The entire operation is funded by public donations: no government money, no corporate backing, no safety net. Their model is a foster-first network rather than a central shelter, which means animals live in homes rather than kennels, arriving at their adoption centres properly socialised, vet-checked, vaccinated, microchipped, and desexed.
They rehome an average of 50 animals a month, which for a fully volunteer operation is extraordinary. The Sai Ying Pun cat centre has become a neighbourhood institution — a spot where shop cats from closing businesses around the area come to wait for their next chapter, which is one of the more poignant side effects of Hong Kong's relentless retail churn. They also run a spay-neuter-release programme for feral cat colonies on Lamma Island. You can donate via PayPal or PayMe, volunteer, foster, or simply walk into First Street on a Saturday afternoon and let a cat decide your fate. It worked for me. Technically I've been fostering for about 12 years...
4. Animals Asia Foundation
Established: 1998 | Registered Charity (HK-based headquarters) | Regional Focus
Website: animalsasia.org | Facebook: @AnimalsAsia (363K likes) | Instagram: @animalsasia
Donate: animalsasia.org/donate — global donation portal, multiple currencies
If LAP and HKDR are fighting the hyperlocal battle for Hong Kong's street cats and shelter dogs, Animals Asia Foundation is operating at an entirely different scale — and a different kind of horror.
Founded in 1998 by Jill Robinson MBE, who was compelled to act after witnessing the conditions of bears kept on bile farms in Asia, Animals Asia's central mission is the eradication of bear bile farming across the continent. The bears in question are moon bears — Asiatic black bears, named for the yellow crescent on their chest — who have been kept in small cages across China and Vietnam, with metal catheters inserted into their abdomens to extract bile for use in traditional medicine, sometimes for up to 25 years. It is, without softening the edges at all, one of the most inhumane practices in modern Asia, and Animals Asia has been the most persistent and effective force in ending it.
They have rescued nearly 700 bears to three sanctuaries in China and Vietnam, and are actively working with the Vietnamese government to phase out the remaining bile farms entirely. They also campaign against the dog and cat meat trade, work on zoo and safari park welfare reform across Asia, and run the pioneering Dr Dog and Professor Paws therapy animal programme in Hong Kong, which sends trained dogs into hospitals, orphanages, and schools. Headquartered in Hong Kong with offices in China, Vietnam, Germany, Australia, the UK, and the US, this is the city's most internationally impactful animal charity.
5. Society for Abandoned Animals (SAA)
Established: 1997 | Registered Charity | No-Kill, No-Abandon
Website: saa.org.hk | Facebook: @SAA.ORG.HK (118K likes)
Donate: saa.org.hk/en/donation.php — FPS (fps@saa.org.hk), AlipayHK, cheque, 7-Eleven/Circle K
Shelter: Section 1, Pak Sha Village, Kiu Hing Road, Yuen Long | Open Fri/Sat/Sun/Public Holidays 12:30–3:45pm
The Society for Abandoned Animals has been doing quietly remarkable work in the New Territories since 1997, founded by El Chan — a former pet groomer from Happy Valley who moved to Yuen Long in the 1990s and found herself radicalised by the local attitude towards animals. She and a group of friends rented a disused pig farm in Pak Sha Village and began taking in what nobody else would: elderly animals, disabled animals, those with chronic conditions, the ones other organisations looked at and calculated wouldn't be easy to rehome. Their motto — 'Love Animal, Respect Life, Never Kill Never Abandon' — is not aspirational, it is operational policy.
Over 80% of the animals at SAA are elderly, many managing long-term conditions including joint disease, thyroid issues, heart and kidney problems. Medication and specialist food costs alone are enormous. The SAA also runs its own veterinary centre in downtown Yuen Long — the Albert Wu Veterinary Centre — and has a community blood donation programme for animals needing transfusions.
A note on the land situation: SAA's shelter site was included in the Yuen Long South Development Plan and was facing relocation — but as of 2025-26, the shelter remains at its Pak Sha Village address and is actively open at weekends. Their Facebook is the most reliable source of current updates. With 118,000 followers, their social media is doing the job well.
6. Hong Kong Paws Foundation (HK Paws)
Established: 2005 (registered charity 2011 — Charity No. 91/11168) | No-Kill
Website: hkpaws.org | Facebook: active | Instagram: active
Donate: hkpaws.org — online donation portal
Dog Centre: Bow Wow Inn, Kam Tin | Cat House: Tin Hau
Hong Kong Paws Foundation has been operating since 2005 — making it one of the younger organisations on this list, though it received official charitable registration in 2011 — and runs on the kind of relentless volunteer energy that makes you feel mildly inadequate about your own weekend activities.
They rescue cats and dogs that have been abused, abandoned, injured, and displaced, and their model involves proper behavioural assessment, veterinary treatment, and foster placement before any adoption proceeds. Since their founding, they have rehomed thousands of animals. In 2022 they opened the Bow Wow Inn in Kam Tin — a halfway house for dogs waiting for permanent homes — which is a facility that, given Hong Kong's shortage of foster space, is doing more practical good than it might appear from the outside. Their Cat House in Tin Hau covers the feline side of the operation.
What distinguishes HK Paws is their insistence on the right match — they work hard to align the animal's character and needs with the adopter's lifestyle, which means their adoption process is more thorough than some other organisations, and the return rate is correspondingly lower. Their social media is active and worth following for both the adoption listings and the regular updates on animals in their care. They have zero corporate or government backing and rely entirely on public donations, which means every dollar goes directly to the animals.
7. Kirsten's Zoo
Established: 2008 | Registered Charity No. 91/12599 | Foster-based, No-Kill
Website: kirstenszoo.com | Instagram: @kirstenszoo | Facebook: @KirstensZooCharity (14.3K likes)
Donate: kirstenszoo.com/donate — PayPal, bank transfer. Tax-deductible receipts available for donations over HK$200
If you wanted to find the origin story of a certain kind of Hong Kong animal rescue — the one founded by someone who simply could not look away — Kirsten's Zoo provides it in straightforward form.
Kirsten Mitchell started the organisation in 2008 initially out of her own pocket, responding to a gap she identified on Hong Kong Island: there was no single point of contact for rehoming cats, dogs, and small animals in that part of the city. What began as a personal mission has become a registered charity that has successfully homed hundreds of animals over two decades, operating entirely without a central shelter — meaning all animals are placed with foster families rather than in kennels, which gives each animal a genuinely home-like environment to recover, adjust, and become adoptable.
Kirsten is notably also a co-founder of Hong Kong Dog Rescue, which gives her a résumé in this sector that is hard to argue with. The Zoo takes in cats, dogs, rabbits, and other small animals, and all rescues go through Acorn Veterinary Hospital for a full health assessment before entering the foster system. Their adoption days are held at regular venues across the city — check Instagram and the website for current dates.
The charity is small, nimble, and in many ways doing work that falls through the cracks of the larger organisations. That 'Inky', a cat currently recovering from surgery and requiring a second procedure, is being actively fundraised for on their website as this is being written, tells you everything about their approach: no animal in their care is written off, regardless of the cost.
One final note: Every one of these organisations is genuinely short of funds, short of fosters, and short of volunteers. If adopting isn't possible — because your building says no, your travel schedule is unpredictable, or you simply aren't ready — there are still ways in. Foster for a month. Volunteer on a Saturday. Set up a small monthly donation. Share their adoption posts. If enough people in this city did one of those things consistently, Hong Kong's animal welfare picture would look materially different.
And if you do walk into a cat adoption centre and find yourself being assessed by a small black and white cat with strong opinions, I say this from experience: say yes.
BillyJean says so too. (@billyjean_kitty_cat
