Hong Kong to cull 2,000 hamsters and small pets over link with single Covid case

dailystar.co.uk:

Covid-19 linked to a pet shop worker in the city. Hong Kong is planning to cull two thousand helpless animals after 11 hamsters tested positive with the Delta variant at the store.It comes after a pet-shop employee, a customer, and the customer's partner all tested positive or provisionally positive, officials confirmed.Authorities believe it could be an example of animal-to-human transmission which has prompted officials to act in a bid to maintain their "zero Covid" strategy.

Dozens of animals at the pet shop were tested but only hamsters appeared to be contaminated as other creatures including rabbits and chinchillas gave negative results.

Despite only 11 of the rodents being infected, officials confirmed 2000 would be killed as a "preventative measure", reports the BBC.It has been reported that the animals are spread between 34 different pet shops and animals storage centres in the city.The extreme measures will see anyone who purchased a hamster from December 22 onwards, will have to pass their gifts over to authorities so they can be euthanised.Hong Kong's agriculture department director Leung Siu-fai said: "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."She told reporters at a news conference that hamster owners "should keep them at home" and assured citizens that the animals set to be culled would be put down "humanely".The city has followed suit of other places around the world who have culled animals in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19.Denmark killed as much as 17 million minks in response to outbreaks across 200 mink farms after several cases were detected in 2020. To stay up to date with.