Hong Kong is set to lift its year-long ban on importing hamsters later this month, as it eases some of the world’s most stringent Covid restrictions.
The rodents would be tested for the virus, according to the city’s Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department (AFCD).
Last year, officials announced that approximately 2,000 animals would be culled to stop the spread of Covid.
The decision was made in response to an outbreak of infections at a pet store.
According to an AFCD spokesperson, the import ban will be lifted in mid-January.
“Our staff will arrange for the collection of hamster and other small mammal samples for Covid-19 testing. They can only be sold if the results of the tests are negative “According to the spokesperson.
They went on to say that this was due to research showing that the animals could contract the virus and pass it on to humans.
“If such imports are to resume, the hamsters must be handled with care during transport and quarantine,” a spokesperson for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Hong Kong said.
Last year, Hong Kong banned the import of hamsters after an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 was linked to a worker at the city’s Little Boss pet shop.
Officials have been forced to test hundreds of animals in the shop for coronavirus. Eleven imported from the Netherlands hamsters tested positive.
Officials said they believed this could have been a case of animal-to-human Covid transmission, and said around 2,000 hamsters and other small animals would be culled as a “preventative measure”.
Thousands of people signed a petition opposing the decision to put the animals down at the time.
“Following testing of humans and hamsters confirmed that Covid-19 was transmitted from hamsters to humans,” Vanessa Barrs, a professor of companion animal health at the City University of Hong Kong, told the BBC.
“The situation was very sad, but the government acted with caution at the time,” she added.
Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid, can be caught by animals such as dogs, cats, and hamsters, all of which are commonly kept as pets. However, there is no conclusive evidence that pets can easily transmit the infection to humans.
“SLouis Yeung, owner of the Chinchilla & Pets Shop in Hong Kong, said he handed over 22 hamsters to be culled by authorities last year.
He told the BBC that once import restrictions are lifted, he hopes to resume selling the pets.
“Our business has been bad since January 2022. “Hamsters are popular pets among many people, particularly children,” he said.
Following a similar move by mainland China, Hong Kong removed almost all Covid restrictions last month.
Arriving visitors to the city, which is a Chinese special administrative region, are no longer required to undergo mandatory PCR tests.
A vaccine pass system was also abandoned, though masks were still required in public places.
It was a bold move by the city, which had previously imposed some of the most stringent Covid-19 restrictions in the world.
