Sympathizing with stray cats and those abandoned or abused, Beth Wong, a retired primary school teacher at Rosaryhill School, created the charitable organization, namely, "Respect Life, Fair Treat Animals" in 2008 with two other friends.

Wong lives with more than 80 cats in a tiny hut, sheltered by a sheet of iron plate in Tuenmun. With a swollen cat community at home, Wong tends and feeds her cats day and night, trashing away their poops, cleaning up their pee puddles, and worrying about her shrinking bank account.

Two volunteers help Wong with housework regularly, each once a week, but Wong finds it increasingly challenging for her body to cope with the physical strain at the age of 61. Money also matters.

Wong has to spend about 10000HKD each month on cats' food and supplements, not to mention medical expenses, under a no-salary situation. However, she is not giving up and will not give up.

She is up for advocating for better treatment of animals, even if that means sacrificing her time and savings.

"I don't treat them as pets or animals," says Wong. "When I interact with them, we are equal... Never keep an animal just because you think it's cute."

To Wong, a fair treatment of an animal upon an owner's decision to keep it is a marriage proposal. Like a spouse, an animal should be given a life-long promise that it will never be abandoned.

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