Artificial Animals and Digital Pets...

 https://bladerunner.fandom.com/wiki/Artificial_animal

There can be many reasons to have fake animals run by A.I.

https://filmgoblin.com/goblin/animals-of-blade-runner-part-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_pet

https://moviepaws.com/2017/10/22/owls-snakes-and-unicorns-the-animals-of-blade-runner

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_pet#Digital_pets_over_real_pets

Someday, Artificial pets and animals in general, might be mistaken for real ones. There could be a need to have ID & tracking tech in almost any life form to indicate whether its real or synthetic.

Thus, Artificial people or Replicants might eventually become indistinguishable from genuine humans. This would also require natural humans to be constantly verified. Managed by AI, of course.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicant#Physical_composition

https://www.seeker.com/culture/robots-replicants-and-artificial-people-the-science-behind-blade-runner

https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/5424/ai-in-the-year-of-blade-runner

https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=Artificial+Life

Digital Hamsters in HK?

 https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3164231/nft-hamsters-project-launched-hong-kong-amid-public-backlash-over

Unfortunately, having your hamster or other pets killed and replaced with digital versions, doesn't really bring them back.

https://fortune.com/2022/01/21/hong-kong-hamster-cull-covid-nft-resurrect-pets-online

Sure people will have pictures and videos of their pets, but once they have died, that's it for them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_simulation_game#Digital_pets

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/20/hong-kong-hamsters-covid

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/01/20/covid-19-hamsters-abandoned-in-streets-as-hong-kong-announces-mass-cull-ngos-shocked-concerned/

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hong-kong-warns-people-stop-trying-prevent-covid-hamster-cull-2022-01-21

"The day Hong Kong decided to kill 2,000 of the cuddly creatures to fall in line with China’s zero-Covid policy marks a new, dystopian low." https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-19/killing-hamsters-drives-hong-kong-to-new-low-in-meeting-china-s-zero-covid-dream

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/18/hong-kong-cull-thousands-hamsters-covid-pet-shop-virus-animals

The 6th Day - RePet TV Spot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOBjNo5sIgI

https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=Artificial+Animals+and+Digital+Pets

https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=hamsters

https://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.com/search?q=mice