Thousands of people in Hong Kong volunteered on Wednesday to adopt unwanted hamsters after a mass cull order from the government over Covid-19 fears raised the alarm that panicky owners would abandon their pets.

Authorities ordered on Tuesday 2,000 hamsters from dozens of pet shops and storage facilities to be culled after tracing a coronavirus outbreak to a worker in the Little Boss petshop, where 11 hamsters subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

Scientists around the world and Hong Kong health and veterinary authorities have said there was no evidence that...