Jen Chan remembers forcing her eyes shut at the back of her family car at 10 years old, fearing she'd catch a glimpse of the roadkill rampant on Castle Peak Road in Tuen Mun, when, in the '90s, dogs from uncontrolled breeding routinely became victims of speeding cargo trucks. Right then, she vowed that she’d open an animal shelter right at the heart of Central. 

Though her ambitions of doing good in one of the world’s most expensive neighborhoods didn’t quite materialize, Jen still immersed herself in helping and rehoming strays 17 years ago and eventually started her own non-profit, volunteer-run animal rescue organization, Paws United Charity (PUC), in 2018. In 2020 and 2021, respectively, her cat and dog adoption centres opened their doors in Repulse Bay. 

In that time, she’s found forever homes for countless pets abandoned by irresponsible owners, born from illegal breeding farms and that’d otherwise face death row had she not swoop them away in time. She's done a 13-day stakeout in the bushes of a Yuen Long village in search of a lost Akita puppy, resurfacing with scratches and cobwebs all over and within her then Audi TT. She had seen heartbreaking fractures, infected wounds and ribs so protruded from abuse and neglect – not easy sights to stomach, given her upper-middle class upbringings in her Mid-Levels home. 

“I drive everywhere and live in air-conditioned spaces. Anything outdoors absolutely kills me, but these animals need us,” Jen says. 

One of her first missions, she recalls, was convincing dockworkers at the Ap Lei Chau shipyards to grant her access to desex and chip their 150 dogs that share a home with cat-sized rodents who weren't afraid to fight them for their meal scraps, or worse, puppies for food.

"A lot of dockworkers only value these dogs as security guards and not pets deserving of proper treatment and care; so understandably, they were reluctant to give them up," says Jen. "Boatmen sometimes drop off new, also unneutered dogs, so this was an exacerbating problem."  

Then, she met dockworker Brother Sing, who genuinely loved his four-legged friends and managed to convince his colleagues, and eventually that of the neighboring shipyards in Wong Chuk Hang, to take on her desexing and chipping initiative and replacing food scraps with dog kibble that Jen still provides for free even today. 

To get the strays into the desexing surgery, however, was a gruelling challenge of balancing 30kg cages across precarious planks and rafts and returning the same way with an extra 30kg-plus dog. 

Desexing and chipping the shipyard dogs turned out to be a 10-year feat, thanks to relentless volunteers – most of whom with day-time jobs. To date, Jen still seeks intact animals for fixing on her time off. The friendly ones are given a chance at finding a new home; while strays are often returned to their environment where they are more at ease. 

Charity of Community 
PUC is a charity of community, Jen says, not only because she could use all the help she can get – from reduced vet bills to sponsorships of air conditioners in her adoption centres – but also so more people can learn about responsible pet ownership. This could mean proper training tactics and rectified priorities of say, spending more time exercising their dog over dressing them up in pink tutus for Instagram likes. 

Last year, the Hong Kong government granted her charity a 40,000sqft piece of land in Tuen Mun that will be revitalized into the PUC Academy with the capacity to hold 100 dogs and 100 cats, set to open in 2026. Like her other centers in Repulse Bay, the Academy will be vibrant and welcoming – far from stereotypically depressing shelters. 

"We want to create a space that people would want to come, with or without their pets. Pet ownership should be fun, and we want to keep it that way even with homeless animals that may have a sad backstory," Jen says, adding that she's actively seeking funding from organizations like The Hong Kong Jockey Club to pay for the manpower required at the Academy. 

Jen laments the significant drop in adoption of non-pedigree animals in the past year. Zero adoption means PUC cannot take in new rescues. 

"Rehoming has been almost impossible in the last nine months. It's a sad fact that pedigrees get snatched up while multi-breed mongrels and domestic short-hair cats get left behind," she says. 

"Please open up your home to these animals in need regardless of their breed: it's the difference of life or death for them." 

Compassion 2.0
While Jen has immeasurable empathy for animals, the years of handling neglectful pet owners and spoiled fosters means this quality doesn't always translate to her human interactions: she says it's something she's been refining through her daytime jobs as the business development director for AIDS Concern from 2019 to 2024, followed by her current role as head of fundraising and communications for Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre, which offers support services to cancer patients, their family members, friends and carers. 

Adjacent to the Tuen Mun Hospital, the Centre is home to serene gardens and pebbled ponds designed by acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, embracing visitors to drop in and find the help and peace they crave. It also offers 1000-plus free activities including make-up workshops, taichi and cooking classes. 
It's a place to hang out albeit the looming cloud of illness and suffering – not unlike the PUC Academy that Jen is looking forward to revealing next year for animals in need.

"Be more forgiving and understanding to different people and listen to their stories, you never know what their circumstances are. At Maggie's, the environment, the people and my colleagues really urge me to slow down, take a breather and endorse an accepting mindset," she says. "We're all helping people and animals get back on their feet at the end of the day."