Hong Kong recently instituted a “COVID zero” policy in hopes of keeping its population of just over 7.5 million safe. Officials enacted social distancing restrictions, closed bars and gyms, restricted restaurant operating hours, and canceled flights into the global hub. Residents have basically been in lockdown and now the government is asking people in Hong Kong to turn in their pet hamsters for a mass euthanization aimed at curbing the spread of COVID.
A recent cluster of COVID infections in Hong Kong was traced back to a 23-year-old worker at a pet shop that sells hamsters and other pets. This prompted the government to run lab tests on animals around the city, in which 11 hamsters tested positive. Health experts traced the hamsters back to two pet shipments that originated in the Netherlands and arrived in Hong Kong on December 22, 2021 and January 7, 2022, the Washington Post reported. The government deemed that any rodent — mostly hamsters, but also chinchillas — purchased in the shop since the December shipment is “high-risk” for carrying the novel coronavirus and must be tested.
