Volunteers and Prof Paws Co-ordinator Jasmine, after presentation of the Outstanding Teacher Awards.
For the second year in a row, Dr Cha Cha receives the Diamond Award from Animals Asia Founder, Jill Robinson.
The Animals Asia Dog Devotion Awards 2010 were held at the Discovery Park Shopping Mall – Sky Dome Atrium in Tsuen Wan on 4 Dec 2010. These awards pay tribute to the achievement of outstanding dogs within the Hong Kong community, giving public recognition to dogs who have shown courage and given comfort to people in need. A huge total of 70 dogs received awards at the ceremony!
This year we saw our very own Dr Dogs and Professor Paws being honoured alongside the AFCD (Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department), Correctional Service, Food and Health, Fire Service and Police dogs. One of the winners is Professor Yat Yat, who received the “Outstanding Professor Paws” awards for her continued and enthusiastic support of the Professor Paws programme since joining in 2008. The Professor Paws programme was developed in 2004 and is aimed at primary school students. Our Professors, their guardians, teaching volunteers and Animals Asia staff, teach the children how to love and respect animals, as a part of the English learning curriculum.
The AFCD started their Quarantine Detection Dog service in 2008, and on the team was a dog called Sally, who was an abandoned dog from Australia. Being given a second chance, she was able to qualify as a detection dog serving the Hong Kong community. Animals Asia Foundation was honoured to have Sally and the AFCD team carry out a demonstration of their work.
Among the award recipients was Dr Cha Cha, who received the Diamond Award for the second consecutive year. He has been a wonderful ambassador working both as a Dr Dog and a Professor Paws. Dr Cha Cha has accumulated more than 60 visits to the various organisations bringing animal therapy to many people in need of help.
This year’s Dr Ocha Memorial Award is awarded to Dr Scooby. This award is to honour a therapy dog that has overcome obstacles and shown exceptional endurance in continuing to help people in need. Dr Scooby, a beautiful Dalmatian who lost one of his legs to cancer after being adopted by his guardians, Joey and Keith, continues to inspire people in need while learning to cope with walking on three legs.
The Second Chance Awards honoured three mixed-breed dogs, Dr BeeBee, Dr Donna and Dr Lily. Despite having a tough start early in life, they were adopted and given a second chance and are true examples of how to give back and help within our community.
Other awards were the Long Service Award, Posthumous Award, Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards for our most dedicated dogs, as well as the Outstanding Teaching Volunteers Awards.
This year the Ma On Shan Ling Liang School young cadets sang the Pet Cadet song and also enlightened us to a short drama in English about what they have learnt from our Professor Paws Programme.
As for the day, the venue was opened to the public whereby the general public met with our Santa Paws and various government dogs at the beginning of the day. This was followed up with Christmas carol-singing by celebrities before the opening ceremony. This year Jill Robinson, our Founder and CEO, opened the ceremony with a Christmas Wish for our companion animals ( whereby we were all joined by VIPs to make a pledge) while the Hong Chi Mary Cheung children performed the wish in sign language.
Our wish for our Companion Animals: “We wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Whilst we celebrate the day where we honour our canine friends here, we would like to make this wish as part of our promise to love and respect animals.
Everyone wanting to keep a companion animal please consider the following:
It is a life time commitment!
We should all adopt a pet from a reputable animal shelter
AND
We should never buy animals, so that a second chance can be given to all the helpless shelter animals waiting for a good home.
By doing this we are helping to create a better world for our companion animals.
We promise to spread this message.
We would like to thank Discovery Park shopping mall who generously supported us with the venue, supporting organizations – Hong Chi Mary Cheung School, Ma on Shan Ling Liang School, Princess Margaret Hospitals, the Auxiliary Police – and the wonderful dog teams from the different government departments. Huge thanks also to our super, wonderful VIPs – Mr. Ken Chan , Ms Maria Cordero and her wonderful troupe, our very own Hononary Director Ms Gigi Fu, plus the two wonderful MCs , Esther and Vincent.
Last but not least, let us not forget to mention our wonderful dog guardians and their lovely four-legged companions.
Part of the highlights was broadcasted by Cable TV. Please click here to see footage.
