In Hong Kong, a highly urbanised society, animal welfare issues are increasingly coming under scrutiny, with incidents of animal cruelty and irresponsible abandonment occurring frequently. However, the current “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance” focuses on post-facto punishment, acting as a last line of defence that is always too late. To fundamentally nurture a society culture that respects life, we must turn our attention to a more proactive and formative area—school education. Systematically integrating animal life education into the formal curriculum of Hong Kong’s schools is not only a response to the call for public education in the 2010 “Review of Animal Welfare Legislation,” but also a crucial step towards optimising animal welfare policy in Hong Kong.

• Current Status Examination: The Limitations of Legal Punishment and the Vacuum of Value Education
  
  Hong Kong’s animal welfare policy has long been overly reliant on criminal law to deter acts of cruelty. However, the law can only define the minimum standard of behaviour and cannot actively cultivate empathy, respect, and a sense of responsibility towards life, especially among the next generation. This “punishment-first, education-second” model has led society to often fall into a passive situation where animal issues are addressed piecemeal.
  
  A review of the Hong Kong school curriculum in 2010 reveals a significant “vacuum in value education.” Content related to animals is only sporadically found in primary general studies (such as recognising species) or secondary biology (such as learning about animal physiological structures), with educational goals primarily limited to knowledge transmission. The curriculum severely lacks systematic teaching from perspectives such as bioethics, animal sentience, owner responsibility, and human-animal relationships. This absence makes it difficult for students to view animals as “living beings” with emotions and needs, thus failing to internalise the motivation for caring for and protecting animals.
  
• Core Concept: Animal Life Education is an Essential Pillar of “Holistic Education”
  
  True animal life education is far more than a simple slogan of “do not abuse animals.” It is a profound form of “humane education,” with its core resting on fostering respect, compassion, and a sense of responsibility for all life, including humans, animals, and the environment. This aligns closely with the “holistic education” and “social-emotional learning” principles advocated in the global educational community.
  
  1. Cultivating Empathy and Social Emotional Skills: By learning to understand animal behaviour, needs, and emotions, students can develop sharper observational skills and the ability to empathise. This empathy learned through caring for animals can directly transfer to interpersonal relationships, reducing bullying behaviour and promoting harmonious social relations.
  
  2. Shaping Responsible Citizenship: Animal welfare issues involve ethical choices, public policy, and scientific understanding. Exploring related topics (such as stray animal management and the welfare of economically significant animals) can train students’ critical thinking, moral judgement, and awareness of social engagement, which are key to cultivating responsible citizens of the future.
  
  3. Linking the Global Perspective of “One Health”: The concept of “One Health” can be introduced in teaching, enabling students to understand the close connection between human, animal, and environmental health. For example, recognising that good farm animal welfare contributes to food safety and public health, and protecting wildlife habitats helps maintain ecological balance and prevent zoonotic diseases. This helps students build a macro, interdependent worldview.
  
• International Experience: Education First is a Common Consensus in Civilised Societies
  
  In 2010, many common law regions with advanced animal welfare legislation had already regarded life education or animal welfare education as an indispensable component of school education.
  
  1. United Kingdom: Although no separate subject is established in the national curriculum, subjects such as “Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education” and “Science” clearly require students to learn how to care for animals responsibly and understand their needs and welfare. Many schools collaborate with the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to use its rich educational resources.
  
  2. Australia: Some states explicitly include “care for living beings” as a core value in their education curricula. Schools widely engage in collaborative projects with local animal shelters or wildlife rescue organisations, allowing students to learn through practical experiences.
  
  3. Taiwan: Though not a common law region, its educational sector has actively promoted “life education” since before 2010, incorporating animal ethics into it. The development of related teaching materials and lesson plans is quite mature, providing valuable cultural parallels.
  
  These experiences collectively point out that systematic school education is the most effective way to transform animal welfare concepts from legal statutes into social consensus and civic quality.
  
• Specific Implementation Recommendations for Hong Kong
  
  In view of this, we present the following specific recommendations to the SAR Government, the Education Bureau, and all sectors of society, to initiate the process of incorporating animal life education into the formal curriculum:
  
  1. Initiate Feasibility Studies and Framework Design for Curriculum Integration:
  
  The Education Bureau should immediately commission a team of experts or collaborate with organisations like ours to undertake special research. The research should draw on international experience to develop a phased, modular curriculum framework tailored for Hong Kong. For example: the primary stage should focus on “Perception and Care” (recognising animal emotions, basic needs); the junior secondary stage should focus on “Understanding and Responsibility” (owner responsibility, local animal issues); the senior secondary stage should focus on “Critical Thinking and Action” (animal ethics controversies, policy analysis).
  
  2. Develop Locally Relevant Teaching Materials and Provide Teacher Professional Training:
  
  Establish a committee composed of educators, animal welfare experts, and frontline teachers to develop teaching resources that are culturally relevant to Hong Kong, scientifically accurate, and engaging. At the same time, the Education Bureau must include animal welfare education in continuous professional development for teachers, providing systematic training for in-service teachers and teacher trainees to equip them with the knowledge and skills to teach relevant content.
  
  3. Establish Cross-Departmental Cooperation and Campus Practice Support Mechanisms:
  
  The Education Bureau should collaborate with departments such as the AFCD and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to provide resource links for schools. For example, support schools to implement “Campus Pet Care” responsible pet ownership programmes (to be conducted under professional guidance), organise student visits to animal welfare organisations, and invite experts to hold workshops at schools, allowing learning to extend from textbooks to real life.
  
  4. Explicitly Include Life Education as a School Development Goal:
  
  In the school’s development plan, inspection framework, and value education assessments, relevant indicators such as “Cultivating Respect and Care for Life” should be explicitly included, institutionally encouraging and guiding schools to value and implement animal life education.

Conclusion

The law can punish wrongdoing, but only education can prevent its occurrence and plant the seeds of goodness in people’s hearts. The optimisation of Hong Kong’s animal welfare policy cannot rely solely on revising legal penalties; it must also invest in shaping the values of the next generation. Integrating animal life education into the formal curriculum is a forward-looking social investment. It invests in a more empathetic next generation, a more harmonious relationship between humans and animals, and a future for Hong Kong that is truly civilised and compassionate.

We urge the government and the education sector to seize the reform opportunity following the 2010 legislative review, grounding it in education to build the most solid and lasting foundation for Hong Kong’s animal welfare efforts. The seeds sown now will bloom into virtues of respect for life in the future.