# covid hamster cull



## AFishOutOfWater (18 January 2022)

Hong Kong to cull 2,000 hamsters and small mammals over Covid case - BBC News 

horrible and unnecessary.


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## ArklePig (18 January 2022)

'And any new pet owners who bought a hamster since 22 December, perhaps as a Christmas gift, will need to hand the animal over to authorities for euthanasia'


That line in particular is the stuff of horror movies. How horrible and pointless


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## AFishOutOfWater (19 January 2022)

Actual footage of me omw to China to stop this BS


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## Backtoblack (20 January 2022)

poor hamsters


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## Birker2020 (20 January 2022)

I like the way they say they will be humanely destroyed.  Any other animal that is killed in China is either beaten to death or skinned/boiled/eaten alive.  I can't see how they will treat hamsters any different despite their assurances.


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## Baywonder (20 January 2022)

Poor little things. 

I can just imagine my children being told their pet hamsters have to be taken off them and put to sleep.  It is bad enough when they die naturally, but that just does not bear thinking about.


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## stangs (20 January 2022)

Birker2020 said:



			Any other animal that is killed in China is either beaten to death or skinned/boiled/eaten alive.
		
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They'll be euthanised. You think China doesn't have vets? Or pets? You think racehorses in China are beaten to death? China is a first world country, granted with fewer animal welfare laws than we do here, but they're not the only country like that. What a Sinophobic attitude to have.

Not to mention that this is strictly happening in Hong Kong and not China.


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## AFishOutOfWater (20 January 2022)

fwiw method of euthanasia for hamsters is usually a single injection of barbiturate close to the heart so not exactly time consuming or expensive to do, probably easier than 'beating to death' honestly. here they buy specific Pentobarbital  for use as injectable euthanasia drug but other barbiturates commonly used in dogs/cats can be given to pts rodents too 

plus for biosecurity reasons it makes way more sense to just have someone in full ppe inject them then incinerate the bodies.

the sheer numbers and how utterly unnecessary it is make me feel sick though


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## Birker2020 (21 January 2022)

stangs said:



			They'll be euthanised. You think China doesn't have vets? Or pets? You think racehorses in China are beaten to death? China is a first world country, granted with fewer animal welfare laws than we do here, but they're not the only country like that. What a Sinophobic attitude to have.

Not to mention that this is strictly happening in Hong Kong and not China.
		
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Err, I wasn't talking about racehorses. Bit of a stupid comment.

Have you forgotten the barbaric legal practices at the wet markets?


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## Mule (21 January 2022)

Birker2020 said:



			I like the way they say they will be humanely destroyed.  Any other animal that is killed in China is either beaten to death or skinned/boiled/eaten alive.  I can't see how they will treat hamsters any different despite their assurances.
		
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They are gratuitously cruel


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## Birker2020 (21 January 2022)

Mule said:



			They are gratuitously cruel
		
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Of course they are and anyone that thinks any different is on on cloud cuckoo land.


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## AShetlandBitMeOnce (21 January 2022)

I wouldn't be surprised if it was similar to the conveyor belt type machines you see used to dispatch male chicks in those barbaric videos


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## Mule (21 January 2022)

Birker2020 said:



			Of course they are and anyone that thinks any different is on on cloud cuckoo land.
		
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It's nothing to do with being a developing country or bad with human rights either because lots of countries are in a similar situation but they aren't deliberately cruel to animals. Chinese medicine is a disaster for animals too. They will wipe out wildlife and donkeys given half the chance. I read that after the communist revolution there, animal welfare was considered 'western' so something to reject.


AShetlandBitMeOnce said:



			I wouldn't be surprised if it was similar to the conveyor belt type machines you see used to dispatch male chicks in those barbaric videos
		
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There is no way they will take the time or cost to give each animal a barbiturate injection.


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## stangs (21 January 2022)

Birker2020 said:



			Have you forgotten the barbaric legal practices at the wet markets?
		
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Yes, those practices are barbaric. But those are animals being used solely for meat purposes; it is ridiculous to extrapolate from that and say that any pet is also killed in an inhumane way. That's like if I said that Brits shoot all dogs and live shackle people's budgies.


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## stangs (21 January 2022)

Mule said:



			because lots of countries are in a similar situation but they aren't deliberately cruel to animals.
		
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How do you define being deliberately cruel? It's an issue of tradition and profit, not of getting your rocks off to seeing animals suffer.



Mule said:



			It's nothing to do with being a developing country or bad with human rights either because lots of countries are in a similar situation
		
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Such as..?


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## Birker2020 (21 January 2022)

stangs said:



			How do you define being deliberately cruel? It's an issue of tradition and profit, not of getting your rocks off to seeing animals suffer.


Such as..?
		
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But i don't think its either tradition or profit where dogs are skinned and boiled alive or shackled whilst each leg is cut off, one at a time, or beaten to death by being clubbed in full view of other dogs.

This is done because the meat is supposed to be sweeter and tastier when an animal has been stressed and tortured and in agony.  And I'm sorry but anyone who is a willing participant to such terrible actions has to be getting their rocks off or at least experiencing some kind of enjoyment. I'd not want to meet them down a dark alley, that's for certain.

In our country quite often after a long journey to slaughter animals are kept in a lairage overnight to allow them to calm down as stressed meat is actual tougher to eat as it contains greater concentrates of lactic acid.

Our slaughtermen on the other hand (well...the decent ones not exposed on CCTV) pride themselves on providing as humane death as possible.


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## Mule (21 January 2022)

stangs said:



			How do you define being deliberately cruel? It's an issue of tradition and profit, not of getting your rocks off to seeing animals suffer.


Such as..?
		
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Deliberately cruel is skinning dogs and cats alive and beating them to death. I have no idea why something being a tradition would make an action less cruel. Sutte was an Indian tradition. That doesn't make it morally acceptable. Mongolia is an example of a developing country with animal welfare legislation


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## Birker2020 (21 January 2022)

In China they eat Huo Jiao Lu which is live fresh donkey.  The animals legs are tied and its body held down while the chef cuts the meat and serves immediately to customers. If that is not cruel then I don't know what is.


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## Mule (21 January 2022)

Birker2020 said:



			In China they eat Huo Jiao Lu which is live fresh donkey.  The animals legs are tied and its body held down while the chef cuts the meat and serves immediately to customers. If that is not cruel then I don't know what is.
		
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Lovely 🤬


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## Amymay (21 January 2022)

stangs said:



			Yes, those practices are barbaric. But those are animals being used solely for meat purposes; it is ridiculous to extrapolate from that and say that any pet is also killed in an inhumane way. That's like if I said that Brits shoot all dogs and live shackle people's budgies.
		
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Actually, they often are when the authorities are involved sadly.  I’m sure many of us watched in horror the pet corgi beaten to death in its own home after the owner was diagnosed with Covid and taken to hospital.

Of course not all Chinese people are cruel to animals.  However the authorities quite often are.

Whilst I sort of get why these hamsters are to be euthanised, I suspect their dispatch will be less humane than we’d like.


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## AShetlandBitMeOnce (21 January 2022)

Tradition, generally accepted practise, superstition, delicacy or otherwise, any human that is capable of critial thinking can ascertain what is cruel and what is not when we are referring to such obvious barbarity as skinning/boiling a mammal alive. 

Eating their meat and having them stored in tiny cages, whilst still obviously awful by 'our' standards, I can reluctantly understand as they don't have the money/facilities to do better and are often desperately poor. I take exception when people know they can, and have the resources to do better, and don't.


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## AFishOutOfWater (21 January 2022)

Health - BBC News


Update video on China Hamster Cull from the BBC. I'm not looking into it more deeply, sorry, I just can't.


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