Coronavirus: Hong Kong hamster cull starts, with owners dropping off their pets at government facility in Sha Tin
- The owners say they were asked to sign a document forfeiting their right to compensation and pledging not to inquire after the hamsters again
- ‘I still do not want to let it go at this moment, but there are no other solutions,’ one owner says. ‘Although it is just a hamster, it’s still a life’
Hong Kong hamster owners have begun heeding the government’s call to surrender their pets for a massive cull sparked by suspicions of a possible animal-to-human transmission of Covid-19.
The announcement of the cull was met with widespread opposition, with more than 25,000 signing a petition calling for it to be scrapped, but leading epidemiologists on Wednesday urged the general public to be understanding of the need to contain the health risk believed to be posed by the tiny rodents.
On Wednesday morning, about a dozen residents showed up at the New Territories South Animal Management Centre in Sha Tin to hand over their hamsters to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
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Hamster owners drop off their beloved pets following Hong Kong government’s mass-kill order
One by one, they emerged about 10 minutes later without their pets, saying they had signed an agreement with the authority not to inquire after the animals going forward.
One father of two, surnamed Chan, said he had turned over his hamsters Coke and Sprite due to health concerns, noting the document he signed forfeited any right to compensation.
“I put down the bag [with the hamsters in it] and signed the document. They stuck a piece of paper on the bag and then took it away,” he said, adding that the staff wore protective equipment. “They said I could not ask them about the hamsters any more.”
Health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee ordered the mass hamster cull and temporarily suspended imports of small animals on Tuesday, citing evidence of the first potential animal-to-human transmission of Covid-19 in the city at a local pet shop.
Seven hamsters, accounting for about 20 per cent of those sold at the Little Boss pet shop in Causeway Bay, returned a positive result when tested for the coronavirus. At least three cases, including the shop employee who was carrying the Delta variant of the virus, have been confirmed infected.