Hong Kong to Euthanize Almost 2,000 Hamsters After Possible Coronavirus Outbreak

Pet shops in Hong Kong selling hamsters are asked to shut down due to Covid link, although animal to human transmission was not evidenced.

As a result, nearly 2,000 small animals, including hamsters are being culled in the Chinese city after 11 tested positive for coronavirus at a pet shop. Officials said on Tuesday that pet owners were asked to hand over hamsters they bought in the last four weeks to be euthanized.

According to Bloomberg, the 11 hamsters that tested positive were imported from the Netherlands and sold at Little Boss, a local pet store. It was said that an employee at the shop was infected with the Delta variant of the virus, however, city's health secretary Sophia Chan stressed that there was no evidence of animal to human transmission.

An act of precaution

Nonetheless, authorities have banned the sale and import of all small mammals and ordered to shut down pet shops while testing and cleaning are ongoing as a precautionary measure. In addition, residents who purchased hamsters after 22 December are also subject to mandatory testing and have been prohibited from going out in public until their test results are negative. Otherwise, they will be asked to undergo quarantine.

"Pet owners should keep a good hygiene practice, including washing hands after touching the animals, handling their food or other items, and avoid kissing the animals," agriculture, fisheries and conservation department director Leung Siu-fai Leung said. "If citizens are raising hamsters, they should keep them at home. Do not bring them out."

So far, only hamsters have tested positive among hundreds of samples collected from small animals.

Humane culling

Due to the current global struggle to contain a local outbreak of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant, city's including Hong Kong had reimposed more strict precautions on flights and gatherings, while thousands of people have been put into makeshift government isolation facilities.

In just three months, Hong Kong has reported over 50 local infections in the community since the end of 2021. To contain the virus, authorities announced on Friday a month-long ban on transit flights from more than 150 countries and territories.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the risk of animals spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to people is low. However, the virus can spread from people to animals during close contact. Which is why Hong Kong authorities say they are not ruling out transmission between animals and humans, and asked customers who purchased a hamster after 22 December to hand them over for culling.

So far, Mr Leung said that about 2,000 hamsters in 34 pet shops and storage facilities would be put down "humanely".

"We cannot exclude the possibility that the shopkeeper was in fact actually infected from the hamsters," Edwin Tsui added, a controller at the Centre for Health Protection on Tuesday.

Hong Kong's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was "shocked and concerned" by the decision to kill the animals, and urged the government not to "take any drastic action before reviewing its approach." However, with the local Omicron outbreak the city is currently grappling with, they cannot remain unguarded.