Hong Kong welcomes back hamsters a year after ban and mass culling over Covid transmission fears, with import of pets to start mid-January
- Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department confirms in statement it is preparing to resume commercial import of the small mammals
- Authorities will test the pets before putting them on sale
Hong Kong is lifting an import ban on hamsters around mid-January, nearly one year after more than 2,000 of the small mammals were culled in an attempt to contain animal-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.
Health experts said importing the animals would be safe if they were tested.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department confirmed in a statement on Wednesday it was preparing to resume commercial import of the pets this month.
“Our staff will arrange to collect samples from hamsters and other small mammals for Covid-19 testing. They can only be sold if the test results are negative,” the department said, assuring it will maintain communication with industry members.
Professor Leo Poon Lit-man of the University of Hong Kong said on Thursday that it was a “reasonable” commercial decision to resume importing the popular pets.
