hong kong hong kongs government faced outrage wednesday over its decision to cull thousands of small animals after hamsters in a pet store tested positive for covid19 like china hong kong maintains a zerocovid policy stamping out the merest trace of the virus with contact tracing mass testing strict quarantines and prolonged socialdistancing rules their latest measures target hamsters and other small mammals including chinchillas rabbits and guinea pigs which authorities on tuesday said will be culled as a precautionary measure the move came after hamsters sold at the little boss pet shop as well as an employee tested positive for the delta variant now rare in hong kong officials dressed in full ppe gear carried red garbage bags marked with biohazard warnings out of the shop on tuesday night authorities strongly encouraged anyone who bought a small mammal after december 22 right before christmas to give up their pet for culling outside a governmentrun animal centre wednesday a man surnamed hau told afp his 10yearold son was inconsolable about culling pudding a recently bought hamster but that he was worried about the health of his elderly parents living in the same household i have no choice the government made it sound so serious hau told afp showing videos of his son wailing in front of puddings pink cage one hamster lovers group said it received more than 20 inquiries about whether owners had to give up their furry friends authorities said tuesday the covidpositive creatures were believed to be imported from the netherlands with hong kongs health secretary defending the move as part of precautionary measures against any vector of transmission despite a dearth of evidence showing animaltohuman transmission about 1000 animals sold at little boss and another 1000 hamsters in dozens of pet shops will be culled authorities said the import of small mammals has also been halted no one can take my hamster animal lovers across hong kong reacted with alarm a changeorg petition garnered more than 23000 signatures in less than a day and the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals spca denounced the decision the spca is shocked and concerned over the recent announcement about the handling of over 2000 animals it said in a statement sent to afp wednesday one owner who bought her pet on january 1 was defiant pushing back on the governments cull no one can take my hamster away unless they kill me she told local media outlet the standard on wednesday she recalled a recent birthday party attended by officials that resulted in multiple covid infections and left hong kongs leadership redfaced will they also kill all infected covid19 patients and their close contacts the owner demanded if all people who attended the birthday party are culled then i will hand my hamster to the government a grim humour settled on hong kongcentric social media accounts with netizens publishing illustrations of hamsters wearing surgical masks or facing off with the grim reaper the citys