Hamsters in Hong Kong are euthanized after pet shop owner gets COVID-19

Hamsters in Hong Kong are euthanized after pet shop owner gets COVID-19

Transcript¹

The COVID transmission link between animals and humans is growing stronger. In Hong Kong, officials discovered a local pet shop employee was infected with COVID by hamsters in the store.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

People who love pets may want to take a little break from this story, which lasts about four minutes. The government of Hong Kong is taking aggressive measures to contain an outbreak of the omicron variant². And among those measures is euthanizing pets that test positive for coronavirus. NPR's Ari Daniel reports.

ARI DANIEL, BYLINE³: For Kim McCoy, it started one afternoon in mid-January.

KIM MCCOY: A lot of people were starting to message me, what is going on in Hong Kong?

DANIEL: McCoy works as a private lawyer, and he founded the Hong Kong Animal Law and Protection Organization.

MCCOY: I mean, my jaw⁴ dropped. What is this policy that the government has started?

DANIEL: The policy was the euthanizing of some 2,000 hamsters, animals that either tested positive for COVID-19 themselves or that had been in contact with others that had.

MCCOY: It's just completely barbaric and inhumane.

DANIEL: The reason for the cull⁵ went back a week earlier when a Hong Kong resident came down with COVID. Notably⁶, she had contracted the delta⁷ variant, and there hadn't been a locally acquired delta infection in Hong Kong in three months. So how had she gotten sick? Turned out she worked at the Little Boss pet shop downtown, which raised the troubling possibility that the pets could have given her COVID. Leo Poon, a virologist at The University of Hong Kong, leapt into coordinated⁸ action with his lab and the government screening numerous animals for coronavirus.

LEO POON: We screened hundreds of the hamsters and then also rabbits, guinea pig. And then we also went to the warehouse⁹, which supplies the animals to these pet shops.

DANIEL: In a study soon to be published, Poon's team reported that just over half of the 28 hamsters tested were positive for COVID.

POON: The hamster was caught red-handed.

DANIEL: After sequencing the viral genome, they found that the pet store worker had most likely gotten COVID from the hamsters, which would mean that COVID had jumped from humans into hamsters and back again. We've seen evidence of animal-human transmission elsewhere. Farmed minks¹⁰ had COVID and transmitted it to humans, and a new study shows deer could possibly spread COVID back to people. Each time a spillover like this happens, it raises the concerning prospect¹¹ that the animal - in this case, hamsters - could become a reservoir for the coronavirus, one where it could mutate to form a potentially problematic new variant and then transmit back to people.

POON: So that's why we want to stop this transmission chain early.

DANIEL: Hence, the government's decision to euthanize the hamsters.

POON: I feel bad about it.

DANIEL: Poon wasn't alone. In Hong Kong, people flocked to social media hamster support groups. YouTube videos like this one surfaced, imploring¹² people to keep and protect their hamsters.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

DANIEL: But not everyone listened. Here's Kim McCoy again.

MCCOY: You were seeing animals being abandoned in parks and on roadsides. People don't want to get COVID because, in Hong Kong, once you get the disease, you go into these quarantine camps, and they're absolutely awful.

DANIEL: McCoy tried to take legal action, but no hamster owner was willing to come forward to launch a case.

MCCOY: They didn't want to be seen to be doing something that was completely adverse¹³ to the government. That's a big problem that we have in Hong Kong because people are just so scared.

DANIEL: Officials remain concerned that the international hamster trade may offer COVID another route of transmission, but that worry is taking a backseat as the city scrambles¹⁴ to contain the omicron variant, which is now surging across Hong Kong in a stunning¹⁵ fifth wave. Ari Daniel, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF NEON PANDA'S "SPACED")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

5 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

6 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

7 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

8 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

10 minks   

n.水貂( mink的名词复数 )；水貂皮

参考例句：

• Fuck like minks, forget the rug rats, and live happily ever after. 我们象水貂一样作爱，忘掉小水貂吧，然后一起幸福生活。 来自互联网
• They fuck like minks, raise rug rats, and live happily ever after. 他们象水貂一样做爱，再养一堆小水貂，然后一起幸福的生活。 来自互联网

11 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

12 imploring   

恳求的，哀求的

参考例句：

• Those calm, strange eyes could see her imploring face. 那平静的，没有表情的眼睛还能看得到她的乞怜求情的面容。
• She gave him an imploring look. 她以哀求的眼神看着他。

13 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

14 scrambles   

n.抢夺( scramble的名词复数 )v.快速爬行( scramble的第三人称单数 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• The breaking of symmetry scrambles the underlying order of nature. 对称性的破坏会打乱自然界的根本秩序。 来自互联网
• The move comes as Japan scrambles for ways to persuade women to have more babies. 这一行动的出现正值日本政府想尽各种办法鼓励妇女多生育孩子。 来自互联网

15 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。