Hong Kong’s government yesterday faced outrage over its decision to cull hundreds of small animals after hamsters in a store tested positive for COVID-19.
Like China, Hong Kong maintains a staunch “zero COVID” policy, stamping out the merest trace of the virus with contact tracing, mass testing, strict quarantines and prolonged social distancing rules.
Its latest measures target hamsters and other small mammals — including chinchillas, rabbits and guinea pigs, which authorities on Tuesday said would be culled as a “precautionary measure.”
Photo: Reuters
The drastic move came after hamsters sold at the Little Boss pet shop tested positive for the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 — now rare in Hong Kong.
Officials in personal protective gear carried red garbage bags marked with biohazard warnings out of the shop on Tuesday night.
Authorities “strongly encouraged” anyone who bought a hamster after Dec. 22 last year to give up their pet for culling.
Photo: AFP
Animal lovers across Hong Kong reacted with alarm: The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) denounced the decision and a Change.org petition garnered more than 23,000 signatures in less than a day.
“The SPCA is shocked and concerned over the recent announcement about the handling of over 2,000 animals,” it said in a statement yesterday. “We urge pet owners not to panic or abandon their pets.”
One hamster lovers’ group said it received more than 20 inquiries about whether owners had to give up their furry friends.
Authorities on Tuesday said that the COVID-19-positive creatures were believed to be imported from the Netherlands.
“Internationally, there is no evidence yet to show pets can transmit the coronavirus to humans, but ... we will take precautionary measures against any vector of transmission,” Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan (陳肇始) told a news conference.
About 1,000 animals sold at Little Boss and another 1,000 hamsters in dozens of pet shops across Hong Kong would be culled, authorities said.
The import of small mammals has also been banned.
One owner — who bought her pet on Jan. 1 — reacted in defiance.
“No one can take my hamster away unless they kill me,” she told the Standard newspaper yesterday.
She pushed back on the government’s mass cull, recalling a recent birthday party attended by officials that resulted in multiple COVID-19 infections and left Hong Kong’s leadership red-faced.
“Will they also kill all infected COVID-19 patients and their close contacts?” she said. “If all people who attended the birthday party are culled then I will hand my hamster to the government.”
A grim humor settled on Hong Kong-centric social media accounts, with people publishing illustrations of hamsters wearing surgical masks or facing off against the Grim Reaper.
However, the government’s decision has some supporters.
Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung (袁國勇), who is also a government adviser, praised the measure as “decisive” and “prudent.”
Some heeded the call to give up their rodents yesterday, with one man saying he agreed with the authorities’ rationale of limiting the spread of the virus, local broadcaster RTHK reported.
Asked about Hong Kong’s hamster cull, the WHO said some animal species can be infected with COVID-19, and animals can reinfect humans.
“That risk remains low, but it is something that we are constantly looking at,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of COVID-19 response at the WHO.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS