Originally published at: Hong Kong to kill 2000 small animals after COVID-19 found in hamsters | Boing Boing
…
1 Like
Hamster Dance…man, that brings back memories!
5 Likes
Always good for a smile.
Re: small animals and covid.
Er, even if they aren’t spreading it to humans… if the virus can replicate and spread among them, then that is just more chances for another more dangerous mutation.
2 Likes
That may be true, but what’s the long-term sustainable strategy to address that for an endemic virus? Yesterday Dr. Fauci said this virus is likely never going away and will eventually become much like the flu in terms of how society deals with it. Will we regularly need to kill off thousands or millions of little critters every time this increasingly common virus is detected? At this point it’s been found in cats, dogs, zoo animals, otters, deer, etc., so I doubt we’d ever be able to cull enough animals to prevent wild reservoirs for this virus.
3 Likes
Covid showed up last year in the local NC deer population. I doubt many hunters are going to take precautions when dressing one out, so at some point you will probably see an infection jump from a deer to a hunter. At least deer don’t reproduce at the speed of hamsters, but considering Covid is detectable in fecal mater I would suspect that there is potential for deer to spread it to other wild animals. (I’m just basing that off the speculative position that humans, deer, dogs, and now hamsters have all tested positive, not that scientist have reported such things occurring.)
1 Like
Yes, in Kansas too, as my dad noted. But if it is an airborne virus, would it be likely to spread from field dressing and butchering? I don’t think so.
I know they are detecting traces of it in sewer water too, but unlike the flu it doesn’t seem like contact by touch is the primary source of infection.
Well there is a difference between wild animals and animals in zoos vs pets - and that is people in close contact with them. We nuzzle and pet our pets, thus more likely to get something to spread to us, if possible.
I am less worried about wild animals - except - uh, well, at this point the still prevalent theory is that it jumped from wild bats to humans. In the past the pigs and birds are what spread new viruses to humans.
1 Like
“Do not kiss your pets”, he added.
Hamster sad…
9 Likes
It’s Hamtaro time!
Oh no! Where are Bijou, Oxnard, Pashmina, Penelope, Maxwell, etc, etc…
3 Likes
Yep! On a plus note (from my perspective at least) the spread of covid among closely packed small animals is having effects in industry regulations.
In my home province of BC, mink farming is being permanently shut down as they are a SARS-CoV2 reservoir.
1 Like
“Do not kiss your pets,”
Especially if they’re cats, bats or rats…or hamsters.
Is COVID the real reason, or were these Hong Kong hamsters publicly criticizing the Chinese government?
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
