But they are soooo cute!
local6.com – Local News – Woman Arrested For Hamster Neglect — Cripes. To hell with the Mexican Mafia, armed robbers, murder in the street or even the homeless situation. Save the rodents!
JANESVILLE, Wis. — Police arrested a woman for neglecting hamsters at her home after her roommate called authorities, police said Sunday.
Sgt. Rick Larson said police arrested the 23-year-old on 39 counts each of two charges: failing to provide food and drink and failing to provide proper shelter to animals.
found by Aric Mackey
So, if I try to poison rats in my home, is that neglect of a rodent too?
I guess it depends on whether or not there was an intention to keep it as a pet.
In either case though, this is just dumb.
Damn this was in Wisconsin. I could see it in the Bay Area, no offense JCD.
So what’s the beef here, the class of animal wasn’t large or expensive enough to be protected from abuse?
Animal abuse is horrible regardless of the size or expense of the animal being abused. Starving animals to death is abuse. I’d be ashamed to hold any other point of view.
It’s ok to kill rats, unless you “rescue” some to, ah, “play” with. Killing ok, torture bad. Kind of like the so called war against terror, it’s ok to line them up against the wall and pop’em, but you can’t play with them like they did in Abu Graib (sic?).
#1 One thing is kill a pest that transmit diseases, other is to mistreat and starve six animals to death.
Fighting small crimes keep people honest and prevents worst crimes. Lots of serial killers are also animal molesters for instance.
All I know is that if Richard Gere came over to my house, I’d put the hamster cage in the closet.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/celebrities/a/richard_gere.htm
Snap traps that instantly kill disease carrying vermin is more merciful than poisin. Glue traps are the cruelest things that I’ve had the misfortune to witness. Love or hate it, you can’t forget the image of a rodent tearing the skin from its face as it struggle to free itself. Of course, now that I’ve mentioned this, there will be some sadists that will run out to buy some glue traps just to get to see this cruel fate.
I’m sure that it’s hard to know where to draw the line with pets. Surely, this would not happen with a pet insect or arachnid. (Or, would it?) But, I don’t think that this so clear cut for mammals.
Anway, I should hope that there was only a small fine for this. It would be silly to jail a person for this. And, for goodness sake, don’t give this person’s name to PETA, or we’ll have a lyncing on our hands.
John, the article only has one more sentence:
“The woman was already is facing charges of failing to provide shelter and food to a Great Dane removed from her home in August.”
I guess the edit for space helped make your empty point.
Anyone that buys a male and female rodent is going to have a serious overcrowding problem within a few months. You either keep the males and females separated, or you find some way to exterminate the surplus.
The only good reason for raising rodents is to use as snake food. I can’t think of any good reasons for raising snakes.
Seems like we’re not getting the whole story. Why did the roommate call the police? Why did the roommate just feed the pets? Why the heck did she have 39 of them?
#10 – The only good reason for raising rodents is to use as snake food. I can’t think of any good reasons for raising snakes.
Comment by Smith — 10/2/2006 @ 1:31 pm
I can’t think of a good reason to own guns, but a lot of reasonably intelligent people do.
Snakes are remarkably interesting animals, relatively easy to care for, love lived, and they scare girls away which prevents cooties.
#12….OFTLO….Ahhh…how old did you say you were 🙂
0113…uh..that was Gerbils bud…your hamster is safe.
Ohhh….my bad….on second thought 0113…..the Hamster isn’t safe with you.
I’m really failing to see the problem here. Is it wrong to arrest someone for animal cruelty? The woman took them into her home, so she’s responsible for them.
If nothing else, she could have at least brought them to her local shelter. Even if they all get put down, it’s still more humane than starving.