“JoJo” was a “dog slave” who tried to save them all, but died as a pit bull’s dessert
HONG KONG––Wong Cho-yee, 33, dog rescuer and trainer, “JoJo” to her friends, was not much different from thousands of young American women, and others around the world, who dream of earning their livings helping animals.
Wong Cho-yee worked hard for years to realize her dream, but on August 27, 2026, after she fed a Sharpei/pit bull mix, her dream became a nightmare from which she would never awaken.
Social media
Her death, the first dog attack fatality and first by a pit bull in Hong Kong in slightly more than a decade, has subsequently generated as much and possibly more media notice than any of the first 55 dog attack fatalities of 2026 in the U.S., 41 of them inflicted by pit bulls.
The total number of social media comments mentioning the Wong Cho-yee dog attack death within a week equalled the human population of Hong Kong: about 7.5 million.
U.S. dog attack deaths typically generate fewer than 9,000 social media comments.
Wong Cho-yee in January 2026 had opened her own “Pawsgate” boarding kennel on Ping Yuen Road, the main route through Ta Kwu Ling village, in Hong Kong’s still semi-rural New Territories.
“Dog slave”
Calling herself a “dog slave,” according to the Hong Kong Standard, Wong Cho-yee relied on shelterless rescues for much of her business.
Examination of satellite images and site visits by the Liber Research Community,” a nonprofit organization “which focuses on land and development research, suggested that 31 of 60 successful applications over the past five years” for permits to operate animal shelters in the New Territories “involved shelters that only existed on paper,” Vivian Au of the South China Morning Post reported on July 2, 2024.
(See Hong Kong: no-kill beacon to the world or hub of grand scale scamming?)
But the absence of shelters does not necessarily mean the organizations do not actually handle dogs. Instead, like many U.S. shelterless rescues, the Hong Kong organizations keep the dogs they offer for rehoming at boarding kennels, like Wong Cho-yee’s Pawsgate.
“Would meet a scared dog at eye level”
Among Wong Cho-yee clients was the Alliance for Rescue & Preservation Hong Kong, a no-kill organization “which had previously collaborated with Pawsgates on adoption days,” the Hong Kong Standard reported.
“You would even forget your own meals for the sake of the fur kids. Why did it have to be you?” the Alliance for Rescue & Preservation Hong Kong posted to social media after Wong Cho-yee’s death.
“The Alliance for Rescue & Preservation Hong Kong remembered Jojo as an enthusiastic and generous person who was always willing to share her knowledge,” the Hong Kong Standard continued.
“She truly treated the animals as her own family.”
Added someone representing the Alliance for Rescue & Preservation Hong Kong, “I will always remember the gentleness with which you would squat down to meet a scared dog at eye level and whisper, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay.’”
Died alone, not found for two hours
But at about 2:00 p.m. on August 27, 2026, abruptly nothing was okay, with no one else there to help or hear Wong Cho-yee screaming.
“Closed-circuit television footage shows the 33-year-old female victim feeding a yellow mixed-breed dog, about one meter in length, before attempting to return him to his cage. The dog was reluctant to go back and suddenly bit her,” narrated Joy Lu for China Daily.
“Police said the attack was believed to have continued outside the kennel area onto a grassy patch.
“With severe injuries to her head, neck, and both arms, the victim was found unconscious about two hours later, at 4:12 p.m., with the dog still nearby. Wong Cho-yee was pronounced dead at the scene.
“A preliminary examination by a forensic pathologist,” Lu recounted, “found multiple lacerations and bite marks on the victim’s head, neck, lower jaw, and arms.
“American Bully mix”
“The attacking dog was brought to the facility on August 11, 2026 by a volunteer,” Lu wrote, “and was awaiting adoption. At the time of the incident, six other dogs were also housed in cages at the site.”
Assistant district police commander Matthew Chan confirmed the details to the Hong Kong Free Press and other media.
A Chat GPT translation from a cage card printed in Mandarin Chinese identified the attacking dog as an “American Bully mix,” about a year and a half old, male, not neutered.
An “American Bully mix” is a large pit bull variant, also known as an XL Bully, and earlier as an “American Bulldog” or “Johnson Bulldog,” after fighting dog breeder J.D. Johnson.
“Fighting dogs” banned in Hong Kong
Under Hong Kong law, based on the British Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, explained Leopold Chen for the South China Morning Post, “Four types of dogs – Pit Bull Terrier, Dogo Argentino, Japanese Tosa and Fila Brasileiro – and their crossbreeds are classified as fighting dogs, whose importation and breeding are banned in the city.
The oldest dog laws in Hong Kong include a ban on selling dogs or dog meat for human consumption, adopted on January 6, 1950, mandatory anti-rabies vaccination, and an earlier prohibition on allowing dangerous dogs to run at large, which, indicated Catherine S. Chan of the department of history at Lingnan University, in a recent letter to the South China Morning Post, was already in effect at least 55 years ago.
1971 pack attack
“In autumn 1971,” according to Catherine S. Chan, “a 10-year-old left her home on the Tsz Wan Shan Resettlement Estate and was later found lifeless at the foot of a hill. Echoing popular opinion and turning a deaf ear to a father’s suspicions that his child may have been murdered, the authorities concluded that she was mauled to death by seven guard dogs. All seven dogs were put down, notably much ahead of autopsy results and without a formal investigation.”
Catherine S. Chan is a vehement opponent of the breed-specific legislation that has long kept the 7.5 million Hong Kong residents conspicuously safer from disfiguring and fatal dog attacks than the residents of comparably-sized New York City.
Catherine S. Chan is also author of Savage: The Making of Modern Dogs in British Hong Kong, a newly published book from Cornell University Press,
Fourth grader Chan Siu-yin
In her book Catherine S. Chan gives a much more complete account of the 1971 fatality: “On the morning of October 7, 1971, fourth grader Chan Siu-yin…ambled to the nearby bakery to buy breakfast…At eleven, her anxious mother was informed by a phone call from the police that Siu-yin had been found dead at the foot of a hill.
“Her limp body lay bare, surrounded by shredded pieces of her clothing, her shoes not far away.
“The autopsy report showed that Siu-yin had died from a violent attack: Her scalp was no longer intact, a hip bone was missing, and loops of intestine extruded from her abdomen.
“She had also suffered a one-inch puncture that cut through her trachea and numerous wounds measuring an eighth to a quarter of an inch in diameter that pierced through her muscles.”
“Anti-dog campaign”
The injuries suffered by Chan Siu-yin were typical of many of the more than 1,500 dog attack fatalities of which ANIMALS 24-7 has documentation on file, especially pack attacks involving pit bulls and/or other large dogs such as German shepherds.
Police identified the suspect dogs, Catherine S. Chan wrote, as “one chow chow, two terriers [of unspecified type, but probably pit bulls], and four Alsatians [German shepherds].”
Those dogs’ involvement was confirmed by hair analysis, the most scientifically advanced dog identification method available at that time, decades ahead of the development of DNA analysis.
The seven dogs were euthanized after a ten-day hold to see if they were rabid.
Hong Kong compared to New York City
Catherine S. Chan laments that, “An anti-dog campaign was launched to eradicate the dog ‘nuisance.’ In 1974 alone, at least 15,000 dogs – many of which were mongrels – were destroyed.”
While the human populations of Hong Kong and New York City were and are just about identical, the dog population of New York City has been fairly consistently estimated from dog license sales at about double that of Hong Kong.
The American SPCA, handling animal control in New York City from 1895 to 1994, from the 1970s through the 1980s killed upward of 50,000 dogs per year: more than triple the Hong Kong toll.
By the time the ASPCA gave up the New York City pound contract, the New York City dog euthanasia toll had dropped below 34,000 per year, largely due to the success of a high-volume, low-cost spay/neuter program begun in 1968 by ASPCA veterinarian Lloyd Tait and Brooklyn shelter director George Watford.
Tait and Watford happened to be, at the time, the highest ranking African-Americans in U.S. humane work.
Progress against shelter killing
By comparison, however, while the ASPCA cut New York City dog euthanasias by about a third, the Hong Kong SPCA, holding the Hong Kong animal control sheltering contract, cut Hong Kong dog euthanasias by two-thirds, to circa 5,500 per year.
Much has changed since then.
The Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department, handling Hong Kong animal control since 2001, and enforcing the Hong Kong breed-restrictive legislation, euthanized 375 dogs in 2025.
New York City, with breed-specific legislation in effect only in buildings managed by the New York City Housing Authority, accommodating less than 5% of the human population of the city, euthanized 1,660 dogs in 2024, and has had at least six fatal dog attacks since 2017.
Hong Kong adopted U.K. Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
From 1971 to January 8, 1994, meanwhile, Hong Kong went nearly 23 years between fatal dog attacks. The 1994 victim, Liu Wing-yan, an eight-year-old girl, was killed by a Great Dane and a “Dalmatian cross,” a description often given to black-and-white pit bulls.
Then on March 8, 1996, a seven-month-old baby girl, Yuen Wing-sum, was killed by her parents’ pit bull.
That prompted Hong Kong, then still under British governance, to reinforce the previous dangerous dogs legislation by enforcing the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese governance effective on January 1, 1997. The Hong Kong version of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 has not yet been amended, as the British version was in 2024, to specifically exclude the Bully XL pit bull variant.
However, if the United Kingdom had enforced the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to the letter, excluding all dogs of banned breed type, rather than just those identified as such by name or pedigree, the Bully XL exclusion would not have become necessary.
(Paws Guardian Rescue Center photo)
Larry the “Spanish Mastiff”
“The fatal attack occurred amid heightened public attention on responsibilities from dog ownership,” noted Joy Lu for China Daily, “after a 50-kilogram Spanish Mastiff [photos identify a 100-pound Sharpei/mastiff mix] killed two smaller dogs in Yuen Long.
“The dog – Larry – is currently under observation at the AFCD’s animal management center,” Joy Lu mentioned.
Updated the Hong Kong Free Press, “The dog owner was arrested on suspicion of contravening the city’s Dangerous Dogs Regulation, while the canine has been kept in Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department custody.
“Separately,” the Hong Kong Free Press continued, “a large leashed dog bit a 53-year-old man on the right leg in Shek O, and a 44-year-old woman was also injured by an unleashed dog at Jardine’s Lookout, according to local media.”
Shek O and Jardine’s Lookout are Hong Kong neighborhoods.
Crackdown against dog attacks began before Wong Cho-yee death
South China Morning Post writer Matthew Cheng on August 31, 2026 observed that, “A government clampdown following a spate of dog attacks in Hong Kong has sparked a rush for canine DNA testing, while animal welfare groups warn the aggressive enforcement could trigger a wave of pet abandonments.”
But even before a pit bull given a different identity killed Wong Cho-yee, Hong Kong law enforcement had begun a crackdown on dangerous dogs.
Chong Oi-lam, 44, was fined $4,000 Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to $510 in U.S. dollars, “after pleading guilty to failing to keep her dog on a leash,” reported Fiona Chow for the South China Morning Post on August 25, 2026. That was two days before Wong Cho-yee was fatally attacked.
Dog park attack
Chong Oi-lam “had not leashed her golden retriever while walking it at the pet garden [dog park] at Wan Chai Temporary Promenade on January 20, 2026,” Chow explained.
“The court heard that after the golden retriever pounced on a Pomeranian, the Pomeranian owner picked up the smaller dog to shield it from the attack.
“The retriever then jumped up in an attempt to reach the other dog and bit the owner’s left arm.
“After intervening to control her dog after the attack, Chong was warned by the injured person that police had been called and were on their way, but she left the scene.”
Headlined Leopold Chen for the South China Morning Post on August 30, 2026, “Backlash grows after Hong Kong authorities seize second ‘fighting dog’ in week.”
A photograph clearly identified that dog as a black pit bull.
“Tiered risk framework”
Continued Chen, “Hong Kong should introduce a tiered risk framework and carry out DNA testing and physical checks to identify dogs with aggressive traits, a veterinarian and a lawmaker have said after a woman and two pets were mauled within a week.
“Preliminary inspections by authorities revealed the dog [who killed Wong Cho-yee] shared genetic traits with the pit bull terrier, a banned fighting breed,” Chen noted. “Yet, the dog’s microchip indicated he was a mongrel.
“The incident sparked widespread concern about the effectiveness of the city’s dog registration system relying on self-declaration by owners, with residents questioning whether animals with aggressive traits could be identified.
DNA tests for all “mongrels”?
“Veterinarian Lai Cheong-sang said Hong Kong should replace its breed-specific categorization system with a trait-based, tiered system to classify dogs’ danger levels and assign corresponding control measures,” not to do away with the prohibition of fighting breeds, specifically pit bulls, but rather to prevent owners from claiming they are something else.
“Under the Dangerous Dogs Regulation,” Chen explained, “residents can legally possess existing fighting dogs as long as they can produce a valid veterinary certificate certifying that the animal has been neutered, with violators facing a HK$50,000 fine [more than $6,000 U.S.] and six months’ imprisonment.”
Lai Cheong-sang suggested that the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department “could require vets to conduct DNA tests for all mongrels, or set standards for physical features to determine their danger levels, before deciding on management measures for a particular dog.”
Advocates for dangerous breeds, including Bowie Leung, identified by Chen as “spokeswoman for the Caucasian Ovcharka and Tibetan Mastiff Club Hong Kong,” oppose reinforcing and even oppose keeping the existing breed-specific legislation.
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