Hong Kong Activists Mobilize to Stop Mass Hamster Execution

Plans by Hong Kong authorities to kill 2,000 hamsters in response to a pet-shop COVID-19 infection have had unintended consequences: Dozens of the critters have been dumped in the streets, and an entire resistance movement has mobilized to save those abandoned and stop the mass execution. An adoption group that has sprung into action to find new homes for hamsters given up by their owners says at least 30 of the furballs were left on the streets immediately after the government’s announcement of an untraceable COVID-19 outbreak at a pet shop. Ocean Cheung, an activist behind the “Hong Kong the Cute Hamster Group” on Telegram, was quoted in local media saying her group had saved at least 30 abandoned pets dumped in the streets, and at least 20 other hamsters were rescued by other community groups. Activists have used Telegram to share alerts about abandoned hamsters and find new families to adopt the animals, while others have offered to provide safe refuge and hide the animals if authorities come looking for them. One activist has even offered to digitally alter pet shop receipts to make it appear that those purchased after the Dec. 22 cut-off date were actually bought earlier, The Washington Post reports. A 36-year-old woman who spoke to the Post said her mother demanded she get rid of her hamster, but she refused: “I told my mother: I won’t throw you out if anything happens to you, as you are my family. Same goes for my hamster, it is my family.”