A Kind Soul - A Better Future
Essay by Kanna Lau

Essay Writing Competition 2025
Category: 12-15 years
- Commendation -

Senior category: Commendation

A Kind Soul - Essay by Kanna Lau

A Kind Soul - A Better Future

Hong Kong has a lot of cases of poverty and unemployment that often makes society fall into disorder. However, one problem is the worst of all in my opinion, and that is animal abuse.

There are often a lot of cases of animal abuse in the region and a lot of animals are also abandoned or stranded on the street. And that's where our community's pet adoption center comes in to help save the pets. The shelter which caught my eye the most is "Kirsten’s Zoo". This adoption place isn't really that famous among Hong Kong but I have been really inspired by what they do to help animals. While most of us would rely on famous adoption centers like SPCA, Hong Kong Paws Foundation and so on, Kirsten’s Zoo shows that one person can really make a difference. The charity has two cat sanctuaries and a small dog house, as well as many volunteers who look after small animals like bunnies or hamsters. The shelter does their best to provide all the care they can give to the pets to prevent sickness and also get them neutered, so they won't reproduce more.

The owner of Kirsten Zoo, Kirsten Mitchell, is a pet lover as she founded the whole charity. She was the co-founder of Hong Kong Dog Rescue before, but left the organisation as it focused more on dogs, and she wanted to help out other animals, like cats, rabbits and hamsters as she does now. The government helps with expenses, and Kirsten and her friends fund the rest. Hundreds of small animals and thousands of cats and dogs successfully got adopted because of her. The most recent case she handled just now was dealing with 300+ british short hair cats which had not been neutered and had kept on reproducing. Kirsten managed to find a lot of volunteers in one night. However, the owner and the cats disappeared so her work was in vain on this occasion.

However, this case shows her efficiency and the fact she doesn't give up despite setbacks. Even though there are animal shelters, they only help a small portion of the animals being abused. Cases of animal abuse are still continuing to increase, and shelters or charities can't be the long term solution to the problem. Perhaps people who want to take care of pets should get a license or have to pass some sort of trial to actually own a pet. This can help pet stores or shelters know what people they can entrust their pets to.

From my perspective, most people just comment on problems, without trying to solve them. So it is rare that there are still kind people in the world opening adoption centers and helping animals.

Kanna, your essay on animal welfare shows real empathy. Thank you for sharing this inspiring and meaningful perspective. Congratulations, well done!

Kanna is 14 years old and attends Ma On Shan Tsung Tsin Secondary School in Hong Kong. English as second language and Cantonese as home language.