Hong Kong police may charge a woman with animal cruelty offences after they found over 100 pets being kept in her small apartment in North Point on Hong Kong Island yesterday.

The woman moved into the apartment less than two months ago. Police visited the woman after neighbours complained about an unbearable stench coming from her apartment.

They found 112 live pets and one dead hamster. The caged animals included 41 cats and dogs, 32 hamsters (one dead), one rabbit, 26 freshwater turtles and 13 parrots and other birds.

The apartment is less than 40 square metres.

Neighbours told reporters the smell of animal faeces and rotten meat began seeping from the apartment in early November, soon after the woman moved in. Some suspected there was a corpse decaying in there.

They filed a joint written complaint to several government departments, but to no avail, and finally called police for help.

Police said the apartment may have been used for storage and the dire state of the animals warranted a possible animal abuse investigation.

(Wen Wei Po)