Hong Kong residents have in recent days launched a massive - and even partially secret - rescue operation designed to prevent the authorities from implementing their plan to almost completely kill the hamster population in China's special region.
It all started when Governor Carrie Lam announced on Tuesday that all residents of the state should hand over some of the hamsters they raise at home in order to be put to sleep for fear they could spread the corona virus.
This, after remnants of the virus were discovered in 11 hamsters at a pet store where one of the workers contracted the virus and developed symptoms.
The decision that followed the case was tough: all animals imported since December 22 must be handed over to authorities to be killed.
For many in the country, who in recent years have protested in vain to prevent the strengthening of local government at the expense of individual liberties as part of China’s continental integration effort with Hong Kong, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Immediately after the harsh instruction against the hamsters, tens of thousands began firing on a successful operation, some of which was secret.
Many offer to hide the hamsters or adopt.
Others signed petitions or issued fake invoices to show that the animal had been purchased before the expiration date.
There were those who even protested in front of the delivery centers to the authorities in order to dissuade the furry animal owners from handing them over to the authorities.
One of those who found himself in trouble is 37-year-old Ken Chao, who raises four furry creatures in his small apartment.
He told the Wall Street Journal that one of the neighbors contacted him through a Facebook group set up as part of the aid operation and asked if he could give him five more hamsters because his family members work at a pet store.
The result: he now breeds four hamsters and hides another five.
"Humans can protest but animals can not help themselves when they are in trouble," Chow said.
At least a thousand hamsters have already been seized by authorities in raids on shops and warehouses, but there are thousands more whose fate is at stake, as well as other pets that fall under the special order, including chinchillas.
Volunteers in Hong Kong work through social networks to prevent the "extradition" of those who can be rescued, and have even set up a whole set-up designed to connect potential efforts with animal owners.
Veterinarians stay awake into the night to distribute aid packages to help absorb the hamsters and other volunteers search all the city streets for hamsters that may have been abandoned.
"There are no words that can describe my love for hamsters, they are family," Miko Kwang told the Wall Street Journal.
Another activist, Anson Wong, decided to act after seeing a video of a child parting from a hamster tears destined for slaughter.
She even went to a police station to prevent the transfer of some of the hamsters.
When a mother and her two children arrived with a vessel in which there was a hamster, she told them "if you let us take it we will bring it to a veterinarian and check that it is okay and maybe give it a chance to live".
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