Authorities in Hong Kong are planning to kill about 2,000 hamsters and other small mammals due to a COVID outbreak involving a pet store employee.
Follow BBC, health officials tested hundreds of animals at the pet store. Only 11 hamsters at the Little Boss pet store tested positive, but Hong Kong’s “zero Covid” strategy calls for culling any potentially infectious animals that may have contracted Covid from the animal. animal to human.
That means animals like rabbits and chinchillas will be culled, even though the test results are negative.
Hong Kong authorities maintain that one pet store employee, one store customer and the customer’s spouse have tested positive for COVID-19 since the incident.
About 2,000 hamsters and other small mammals from 34 different pet stores and animal shelters in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong will be killed. In addition, anyone who buys a hamster at the market after December 22 must turn the animal over to the authorities.
In the meantime, guinea pig owners are advised to keep their animals at home.
Hong Kong currently bans the import and sale of hamsters and other small mammals, and provides residents with a hamster hotline to call if any rodents are found in the area.
She says that guinea pig owners in particular “should keep them at home”.
Hong Kong Department of Agriculture director Leung Siu-fai told reporters at a news conference: “Pet owners should practice good hygiene, including washing hands after touching animals, handling food or other animals. their other belongings, and avoid kissing animals.”
As the BBC reports, “The virus that causes Covid-19 – Sars-Cov-2 – can be captured by animals including dogs, cats, ferrets and rodents, all of which are kept as pets. But there is no clear evidence that pets can easily transmit diseases to people.”
Learn more in the video below.
