A pet died in Hong Kong. What the law allows
There is no public pet crematorium in Hong Kong and no pet cemetery. What the law leaves open to everyone is one route you can use on any day, at any hour, without paying a company: a public refuse collection point run by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. This page sets out what the law allows, what it forbids, and the few practical things worth getting right in the first hours. It is written for people who have never had to think about this before.
Laws change. Everything below was checked against the sources at the foot of this page on the date shown there.
The first hours
Keep the body cool
Lay them on a towel or a training pad, out of the sun, and keep the room around 20°C if you can. Do not press ice directly against the skin. Rigor and odour begin within hours, and every option below becomes harder if the body has been left warm overnight.
There are two lawful routes
An FEHD public refuse collection point, or a private pet funeral company. There is no public crematorium and no third route. The first is free and returns no ashes; the second charges, and can return ashes. Both are lawful, and neither is the wrong choice.
Do not bury them
Not in a street, a public place, a country park, a beach, or on government land. This is the one rule in Hong Kong that is enforced with a criminal penalty — a fine of up to HK$25,000 and six months in prison. See the section below for what the law actually covers.
If you find an animal in the street
Do not move it yourself. Call 1823, the government one-stop hotline, report the location, and ask which department will handle it. The same number answers questions about the FEHD route below, including where your nearest collection point is.
What the law actually says
Two separate things are regulated. One is where a body may be left, and the law is strict. The other is who supervises the businesses in this trade, and there the law is largely silent.
Leaving a body in a public place is an offence
Under section 10 of the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances Regulation (Cap. 132BK), no person may, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, place a carcass — or any corpse or offal — in a street or public place, a common part of a building, a waterway, stream, channel, drain, reservoir or the waters of Hong Kong, or on government property, unless a public officer consents. The maximum penalty is a fine of HK$25,000 and six months' imprisonment.
LegCo paper CB(2)415/12-13(07) on pet cremation services, quoting Cap. 132BK s.10 · 2013-01-08
The public route, step by step
Bag the body, write the words for dead animal (動物屍體) on the bag, and hand it to staff at any FEHD public refuse collection point. FEHD then delivers it to a landfill. The government page describes no charge and no ashes returning. It is the unglamorous option, and for some people — and some beliefs — it is exactly the right one.
1823 / FEHD — how to handle the body of a dead animal · 2026-10-13
Private land is not automatically fine
Section 10 covers public places and government land, not your own garden, so burying a pet at home is not literally the same offence. It can still breach a lease, a building's deed of mutual covenant, or land-use restrictions, and it puts a decaying body into the ground near groundwater. We have found no official source describing a lawful pet burial ground in Hong Kong, and FEHD provides no pet cemetery.
Where the body can go
Four destinations. They differ in cost, in whether ashes come back, and in what can be visited afterwards.
FEHD public refuse collection point
Bag the body, mark the bag as a dead animal, and hand it to staff. FEHD transports it to a landfill. No charge is described on the government page, and no ashes are returned.
Communal cremation
Several animals are cremated together. The ashes cannot be separated, so they are not returned. This is the least expensive form of cremation.
Individual cremation
One animal is cremated alone, and the ashes can be returned in full. This is the usual service offered by private companies.
A niche (靈位) or columbarium space
A place where ashes are kept and can be visited, in the same form as a human columbarium. In Hong Kong these are almost always rented by the year rather than bought, and the contract sets the term, the renewals and the price rises.
How this is regulated
Rules here are spread across several ordinances, each enforced by a different department, and none of them is a licence to run a pet funeral business. This matters mostly because it explains why there is no official list to check.
Four departments, four different laws
FEHD acts on sanitary nuisance under Cap. 132, the EPD on air pollution from cremation under Cap. 311, the Fire Services Department on fire safety and dangerous goods under Cap. 95 and Cap. 295, and the Lands Department on lease breaches. Enforcement is complaint-driven rather than registration-based.
LegCo written reply, 22 November 2023 — pet hospice services · 2023-11-22
Most premises are industrial building units, and the lease usually does not allow cremation
Ordinary industrial building leases permit industrial and/or warehouse use only. To install a cremation facility, an owner must apply to the Lands Department to vary the lease or obtain a waiver, and the use must also fit the statutory planning zone. Between 2023 and 2026 the department received exactly one such application, and refused it in 2024 because it did not comply with the land-use requirements. Pet cremation is not yet a land-use category of its own.
LegCo written reply, 27 May 2026 — pet cremation services and industrial building leases · 2026-05-27
One licence does exist, for the equipment
Larger incinerators fall under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance as a specified process and need an EPD licence. That is an environmental licence for the equipment and its emissions. It is not a qualification to run a funeral service.
Media report, 22 April 2026 — complaints about pet cremation in industrial buildings · 2026-04-22
What enforcement looks like in practice
A media report of a LegCo reply in April 2026 put the previous three years at 83 complaints about pet cremation in industrial buildings, with 8 cases ending in a warning registered against the property (釘契). The government has said it has no plans for a dedicated ordinance or licensing scheme.
Media report, 22 April 2026 — complaints about pet cremation in industrial buildings · 2026-04-22
On private companies
Businesses in this sector are ordinary commercial services, and engaging one is lawful. No agency here publishes an approved list of providers, and none has vetted their standards. Because of that, this page does not list, rank or recommend any of them, and does not reproduce their addresses, phone numbers or prices — a list on a page like this one would read as an endorsement we are in no position to give. The public contacts below are the ones worth using.
Public resources
- 1823 — the government one-stop hotlineQuestions about handling a dead animal, the FEHD route, collection point locations, and which department handles a complaint.
- FEHD — how to handle the body of a dead animalThe official wording of the public route, with collection point addresses and opening hours by district.
- Consumer CouncilComplaints and consumer advice, including published guidance on pet funeral services.
Frequently asked questions
Can I bury my pet in my own garden?
Not the same offence as burying it in a park, and not a good plan. Section 10 of Cap. 132BK covers public places and government land; your garden is private, but the lease, the building's deed of mutual covenant and land-use rules may still prohibit it, and a body buried shallowly near groundwater is a genuine public-health concern. We have found no official source describing a lawful pet burial ground in Hong Kong.
Does the government cremate pets?
No. The government has said it provides no pet cremation service. FEHD will accept a bagged body at a public refuse collection point and deliver it to a landfill; no ashes are returned.
Is there a pet funeral licence in Hong Kong?
No. There is no licensing scheme specific to pet funeral operators, and no government register of approved ones. Four departments regulate parts of the operation instead — sanitation, air pollution, fire safety and the land lease — and enforcement follows complaints rather than registration. Larger incinerators do need an EPD licence under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance, but that licence covers the equipment and its emissions, not the service.
Is a niche (靈位) ever permanent?
Assume it is rented until the contract says otherwise. Human columbaria are licensed under the Private Columbaria Ordinance; pet niches have no equivalent register, so the lease term, the renewal price and what happens to the ashes if the operator closes are the things that actually protect you.
Do I have to decide today?
Not today, but soon. The body needs to be kept cool, and after a day or two your options narrow and the smell becomes a practical problem. That is a reason to sort out storage quickly, not a reason to rush a decision you have not thought through.
Sources
- LegCo paper CB(2)415/12-13(07) on pet cremation services, quoting Cap. 132BK s.102013-01-08
- 1823 / FEHD — how to handle the body of a dead animal2026-10-13
- LegCo written reply, 22 November 2023 — pet hospice services2023-11-22
- LegCo written reply, 27 May 2026 — pet cremation services and industrial building leases2026-05-27
- Media report, 22 April 2026 — complaints about pet cremation in industrial buildings2026-04-22
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This page is general information about local law and public services. It is not legal advice and not a recommendation of any business. Local rules vary and change; check with the authority named in the sources before you act. We do not operate any service mentioned here and we accept no payment from anyone in this trade.
Last checked: 2026-10-24 · If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us — we date every correction instead of quietly editing it.