Concerns that hamsters might also be capable of infecting humans first surfaced when a 23-year-old worker at the Little Boss pet shop in Hong Kong tested positive for Covid on 15 January – the city’s first Delta variant diagnosis for more than three months.

Pimentel told friends he had cut branches and boarded up windows at the Tierra de Animales (Land of Animals) shelter he founded nearly a decade ago about 20 miles southwest of Cancun, where he also lives with his family.

Delta Air Lines is tightening the rules on who can take emotional support animals on flights after a sharp rise in on-board incidents, including urination, defecation, biting and mauling.