Hamster bites the hands that feed

AN ungrateful hamster bit the hands of the schoolchildren who cared for it yesterday - and left two of its victims requiring hospital treatment.

Chung Pui-hay, nine, found the recalcitrant rodent on his way to Tsz Wan Shan Wing Kwong Primary School, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon.

But as pupils Leung Mei-yee and Lam Kit-tung, 10, and Cheung Chun-fai, eight, admired the creature it tucked into their fingers.

'It seemed a lovely hamster. We all came forward to touch its hair, but it suddenly bit us,' Chun-fai said.

Two of the children were taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and discharged after treatment, while one sought private treatment.

The hamster is under observation by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department to see if it has a virus.

The hamster would not necessarily be destroyed, a spokesman said.