A chef at a prominent Buddhist monastery in Hong Kong has pleaded guilty to three counts of animal cruelty after dragging and stuffing two dogs in nylon bags and releasing them on grounds far away from the kitchen, saying he wanted to maintain the facility’s hygiene.

West Kowloon Court heard on Thursday that the two stray mongrels were fed by staff at the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, with the 65-year-old defendant Ng Sing-yiu committing the offences outside the premises’ Hung Uk Dormitory last year.

At around noon on August 13, Ng captured the dogs, placed them in nylon bags and tied them up tightly. He then drove them to a car park in San Shek Wan, also on the island, and released the dogs there about an hour later.

The dogs, known as “Dai Mui” and “Sai Mui” – meaning “big sister” and “little sister” in Chinese – are brown-and-black mongrels.

The defendant said the excrement from the dogs’ visits to the monastery was affecting the hygiene situation in his kitchen, the court heard.

The two dogs were eventually found in September.