Hong Kong authorities said Tuesday that they will euthanize around 2,000 small animals, including all hamsters in pet shops, due to concerns around COVID-19 transmission.⁠

Following this decision, pet shops selling hamsters have been asked to hand over the animals and suspend operations immediately. These pet shops can reopen once all their small animals have been tested against the virus and their results found to be negative, according to authorities.

Additionally, the import of all small animals into Hong Kong has been suspended.

The decision came after a pet store worker and around 11 hamsters tested positive for the virus and then it was found that a customer who came into contact with the employee also contracted the virus. The city pursues an uncompromising zero-COVID-19 plan two years into the pandemic.

Following the decision, pet owners and animal rights advocates were outraged by the government's statement.

Many online petitions asked officials to reconsider the decision.

"Hamsters are our family, everybody please think rationally, don't give them up because of one incident," said the Hamster Concern Society, a volunteer organization in Hong Kong.

In a statement, Hong Kong's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said it was "shocked and concerned" by the decision, which "did not take animal welfare and human-animal bond into consideration."

Environmental samples collected at the shop's warehouse also reported traces of coronavirus, according to officials. The hamsters at the pet store arrived in two batches from the Netherlands; one on Dec. 22 and the other on Jan. 7.

Notably, health authorities stated that animal-to-human transmission is possible but unlikely.