The Hong Kong Foundation for the Prevention of Animal Abuse
The Hong Kong Foundation for the Prevention of Animal Abuse (hereinafter referred to as “The Hong Kong Foundation for the Prevention of Animal Abuse”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) respects the privacy rights of individuals. This Privacy Policy Statement (the “Policy”) explains our policies and practices regarding the collection, use, processing, and protection of your personal data when you visit our website, become a member or volunteer, register for our animal welfare events and activities, adopt an animal, make a donation, or use our services. We are committed to complying with the requirements of the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) (“the Ordinance”).
This Policy applies to all personal data collected by The Hong Kong Foundation for the Prevention of Animal Abuse and its affiliated bodies in connection with the operation of our foundation, website, animal rescue operations, adoption programmes, fundraising activities, and events.
We may collect the following types of personal data from you, depending on the nature of your interaction with us:
• Identity and Contact Information: Name, title, gender, email address, correspondence address, phone number.
• Membership, Volunteer and Event Data: Date of birth, educational background, preferences related to animal welfare, experience with animals, details of events you participate in, volunteering history.
• Animal and Pet Owner Data: Information about animals you own or wish to adopt (e.g., species, breed, age, medical history), your experience in animal care, home environment details (for adoption suitability assessments), and veterinary contact information where relevant.
• Donation and Payment Data: Bank account details, credit card information, donation history, and sponsorship records for animals or programmes.
• Technical Data: When you visit our website, we may collect data such as your IP address, browser type, operating platform, and browsing patterns.
• Images and Recordings: If you attend our events or visit our shelters, we may take photographs or videos for archival, educational, or promotional purposes. If our premises are monitored by Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems for security and animal safety purposes, images may be collected.
Your personal data may be used for the following purposes:
• To process your membership, volunteer, or foster carer application and manage your account.
• To process animal adoption applications, conduct home visits and suitability assessments to ensure the welfare of animals.
• To process registrations for our animal rescue workshops, adoption days, fundraising galas, community education seminars, and other animal welfare events.
• To send you newsletters, information about our rescue operations, animal sponsorship opportunities, vaccination drives, spay/neuter programmes, and fundraising announcements (see Section 8 on Direct Marketing).
• To process donations, issue tax receipts, and administer sponsorship programmes for rescued animals.
• To communicate with you regarding an animal you have rescued, adopted, or fostered, including follow-up health and welfare checks.
• To conduct market research, surveys, and statistical analysis to improve our animal welfare programmes and services.
• To respond to your inquiries, provide customer support, and handle complaints or reports of animal abuse or neglect.
• To ensure the security of our premises and the safety of animals and staff through CCTV monitoring.
• To comply with any applicable laws, regulations, or legal requests, including reporting to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) or law enforcement agencies where required.
The provision of your personal data is voluntary. However, if you fail to provide the required data, we may be unable to provide you with certain services, such as processing an adoption application, registering you as a volunteer, accepting a donation, or providing membership privileges.
We take appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized or accidental access, processing, erasure, loss, or use. These measures include the use of secure servers, firewalls, and access controls. Your personal data is stored and processed in Hong Kong.
In the event of a data breach, we will act promptly to contain the incident and will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data as required.
We will keep your personal data confidential. However, we may disclose and transfer your personal data to the following parties for the purposes stated in Section 4:
• Our affiliated bodies, rescue partners, and committees working under the umbrella of The Hong Kong Foundation for the Prevention of Animal Abuse.
• Third-party service providers (e.g., IT vendors, payment processors, event management companies, veterinary clinics) who are engaged to assist us in operating our business (e.g., processing animal medical records or adoption payments). These contractors are bound by contractual duties to keep your data confidential and secure.
• Law enforcement, government, or regulatory bodies (including AFCD) if required by law or for the prevention of crime, including animal cruelty investigations.
• Partner animal shelters or rescue organizations strictly for the purpose of rehoming or providing veterinary care to an animal you have surrendered or adopted, only to the extent necessary for the animal’s welfare.
We will not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party for their own marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
We may use your name, contact details, and animal welfare preferences to send you information about our rescue appeals, adoption drives, spay/neuter programmes, educational events, and fundraising activities that we believe may be of interest to you. We will not use your data for direct marketing without your consent. You may opt-out of receiving such communications at any time by:
• Clicking the “unsubscribe” link in our marketing emails.
• Sending a written request to our Data Protection Officer via the contact details in Section 12.
Our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files stored on your device to enhance user experience and collect aggregate data for website analytics.
• Functionality: Cookies help us remember your preferences (e.g., favourite animal species or donation frequency).
• Analytics: We use cookies to analyze traffic patterns and improve our website content, including information on animal rescue stories and adoption listings. The data collected is anonymous and used for statistical purposes only.
You can choose to accept or decline cookies by modifying your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may prevent you from accessing certain features of our website, such as online donation forms or adoption application portals.
Our website may contain links to external websites (e.g., veterinary partners, government departments, or animal welfare collaborators). We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such third-party sites. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing them with any personal data.
We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected (e.g., maintaining adoption records for follow-up health checks), or as required by applicable laws. Once the retention period expires, we will securely destroy or anonymize your data.
Under the Ordinance, you have the right to:
• Request access to your personal data held by us.
• Request correction of any inaccurate data.
• Request deletion of your data, subject to legal and operational requirements (e.g., retaining adoption records for animal tracing purposes).
To exercise these rights, please submit a written request to us:
The Hong Kong Foundation for the Prevention of Animal Abuse
Address: P.O. Box 1902, Yuen Long Post Office, B111 and B130, 1/F, Hop Yick Plaza, No. 23 Tai Tong Road, Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong,
Email: info@animalrescue.org.hk Subject: “Data Access Request”)
In accordance with the Ordinance, we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for the processing of a data access request.
We may update this Privacy Policy Statement from time to time to reflect changes in our practices (e.g., new animal welfare programmes or rescue initiatives) or legal obligations. Any changes will be posted on this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically.
This Privacy Policy Statement is written in both English and Traditional Chinese. In case of any inconsistency or conflict between the two versions, the English version shall prevail.
