Ms. Mok has made many contributions to the Society and the community since an early age. Born in 1928, she joined the Society as a volunteer when she was just 17 years old. She remembers when the Society was located in a small house with two shabby rooms – one for clerical work and the other for keeping abandoned animals. Due to limited resources, the Society could afford two full-time staff at most - an inspector to handle injured animals in accidents and other animal cruelty cases, and an assistant responsible for answering calls, feeding animals and cleaning. Ms. Mok helped the inspector and the assistant to shoulder their burdens.

Back in those days, people did not know much about the Society and would just abandon unwanted animals, especially cats, on the street. Ms. Mok came up with the idea of setting up cat boxes in the community to collect abandoned cats and kittens. The first cat box was a wooden container with two compartments for grown-up cats and kittens. After piloting two cat boxes in the community, they became more popular, and Ms. Mok set up eight cat boxes around Hong Kong. The cat boxes not only helped receive abandoned cats and prevent animal abuse, but also reduced the workload of the inspector, because the Society received fewer calls about abandoned cats.

Over the years, Ms. Mok has witnessed a change in the mindsets of pet owners. “In the past, people mainly kept dogs for security and cats for catching rats,” she says. “They never thought of protecting their own pets, let alone animal welfare. Nowadays people keep pets out of love and are willing to take care of them. The awareness of animal welfare has increased remarkably – thanks to the Society!”

Ms. Mok hopes that more and more people will support the Society by making donations and adopting animals in need.