Publicity is well underway for Hong Kong Disneyland’s opening.

The fate of dogs roaming the site of Hong Kong’’s Disneyland theme park is causing embarrassment to the entertainment group. Since May, Disney has called in local officials to round up and destroy at least 40 dogs, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported. Disney, whose cartoons often portray cute animal characters, said the packs of dogs posed a threat to its staff.

“We felt that they posed a safety threat to our staff, so we asked the government to take them away,” said Esther Wong, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong Disneyland. Previously, the theme park operator has dropped shark fin soup from park menus in Hong Kong following pressure from campaigners.

Dangerous
Albert Hui, a spokesman for Hong Kong’’s agriculture department, said 45 dogs had been rounded up at the Disneyland site since May, the Associated Press reported. He added that some of the animals had since been destroyed, though there were no records of how many.

“They”re unofficial guard dogs,” insisted Sally Andersen, of Hong Kong Dog Rescue. “They are fed and looked after by the workers. They”re friendly and used to humans.”

Disney has denied that it used the animals as guard dogs at the site that is due to open on 12 September.