seriously.. if you own a hamster in Hanoi, you can be fined up
to US$1,875!
Vietnam cracks
down on hamster craze
HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam has launched a crackdown on hamsters, a
wildly popular pet here in the current lunar Year of the Rat,
fearing an influx of the foreign-bred rodent furballs could spread
disease and destroy crops.
From next Monday, anyone possessing or trading hamsters faces
stiff fines of up to 30 million dong (1,875 dollars), the Vietnam
News daily reported, citing a new agriculture ministry directive to
enforce a ban imposed last month.
The communist government aims to end a youth craze for the
fast-breeding animals, which were previously only imported for
scientific research, but which have now spawned online hamster
forums and real-life hamster clubs.
One hamster owner, using the online name Kun89, informed fellow
aficionados in an online forum: "Hamsters like to play acrobatic
games. If they do not have enough toys to play with, they will
suffer from stress and die."
Authorities worry that rampant sales of the fluffy pets will
spike before International Women's Day on Saturday, a major annual
gift-giving event here that Vietnamese husbands and boyfriends
ignore at their peril.
Amid the stern warning, the state-run Vietnam News reported, the
street price of hamsters, many smuggled from China and Thailand
without licenses or quarantine checks, has already dropped from
over 20 dollars to less than 10.
Despite fears that hamsters may spread disease in cities and
devastate croplands, there are no plans for a mass cull, the report
said.
"Destroying them all is really a big problem," agriculture
ministry official Nguyen Thanh Son was quoted as saying. "I think
the Vietnam animal health department should take some samples,
conduct tests and see how dangerous the hamsters in Vietnam really
are."
(source: AFP News)