hamster

19 Stories

Hong Kongers Rebel Against Order to Hand Over Hamsters

Government told them to turn in pets to be euthanized

(Newser) - Hong Kongers are rebelling against a government order to hand over their hamsters . After a woman and 11 hamsters in the pet shop she worked in tested positive for COVID, authorities said Tuesday that anybody who bought a hamster on or after Dec. 22 should hand it in to be...

Hong Kong Blames COVID Outbreak on Hamsters

2K small animals in the city are now to be culled

(Newser) - Hong Kong will cull 2,000 small animals after reporting what could be its first-known case of animal-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2. A 23-year-old pet shop employee diagnosed as "the city's first untraceable delta infection in more than three months" is thought to have been infected by one of...

Spotify's New Playlist Is for Your Dog
Spotify for Dogs
Is Now a Thing
Jan 15, 2020 6:29 PM CST

Spotify for Dogs Is Now a Thing

Music streaming service now offers podcasts, custom playlists for dogs, cats, and other pets

(Newser) - The real question is: Will the fish be able to hear it? If you've ever worried that your dog or cat might get lonely while you're at work, Spotify has come up with an official solution, per Reuters : pet-geared playlists and podcasts. After the company's research revealed...

PETA Has Issue With Woman Who Flushed Her Hamster

'This must have been a horrific, terrifying death'

(Newser) - Airlines that accept emotional support animals on flights usually have explicit instructions on which ones are OK and which aren't, but a miscommunication about Spirit Airlines' policy led to hubbub over a hamster. Belen Aldecosea, a 21-year-old college student who was heading home to Florida for surgery on her...

Flier Said She Had No Option but to Flush Her Pet Hamster

Belen Aldecosea claims a Spirit Airlines rep recommended she do so

(Newser) - "I didn’t have any other options," says Belen Aldecosea, so she opted for a pretty awful one: She flushed her dwarf hamster down the toilet. The 21-year-old Florida woman says she was compelled to do so because of Spirit Airlines, which she says verified twice on the...

Corn-Eating Hamsters Cannibalize Their Young
'Deranged Cannibal'
Hamsters Really Do Exist
new study
Jan 30, 2017 1:47 PM CST

'Deranged Cannibal' Hamsters Really Do Exist

Lack of vitamin B3 causes 'dementia-like' symptoms

(Newser) - An all-corn diet can quite literally turn a female hamster into a cannibal. A new study found that the European hamster, which once used to feast on a varied diet of grains, roots, and insects, is not doing so well on a diet limited to industrially grown corn. Indeed, the...

Fox Anchor Sues Hasbro for Naming Rodent After Her

Harris Faulkner says toy hamster was 'demeaning and insulting'

(Newser) - If Harris Faulkner were a 9-year-old girl, she might have been tickled to have a Hasbro toy named after her. But the 49-year-old Fox Report Weekend anchor is suing the toy company for bestowing her moniker on its Harris Faulkner hamster, part of its "Pet Pawsabilities" line for the...

Now Entering Our Lexicon: Hamster Theft

Couple felt class pet 'was alone and they wanted a hamster'

(Newser) - Normally, burglars target things like expensive electronics over things like, say, small, ubiquitous rodents, but police in rural Maine say a couple has been busted with swiping a hamster named Link from the kindergarten classroom of the Cornville Regional Charter School last week, reports Central Maine . Though the pair's...

Kid Who Bit Off Hamster's Head Out of Ole Miss, Frat

And Brady Eaves could face charges over spring break video

(Newser) - In the spectrum of things you shouldn't do in life let alone on video, this sort of vaults past "get naked with someone named Kardashian:" Brady Eaves is suddenly finding himself out of a fraternity and a college after video surfaced of him titled "psycho drunk...

France Spending $4M to Save Its Hamsters

The Great Hamster of Alsace needs something to eat

(Newser) - They're furry, with little round ears, and grow up to 10 inches long—and they're costing France $4.2 million. Europe's top court has pressured Paris into saving the Great Hamster of Alsace, an endangered rodent whose fate has drawn official attention before, the Guardian reports. In...

Behold: Hamster-Size Deer Born in Spain

Deer-mouse is super-endangered

(Newser) - This baby makes 43: A tiny, hoofed deer—the world's smallest at about the size of a hamster—has been born in Spain, weighing in at about 4 ounces, reports Phys.org . The deer-mouse, aka "tragulus javanicus," was born April 9 at a nature park and "...

Court to France: Save the Hamsters or Pay $24M

France not doing enough, faces fines if it doesn't improve

(Newser) - They may be just 10 inches long, but Alsace’s wild hamsters are Great all the same—and France isn’t doing enough to keep them around, the EU’s top court ruled yesterday. If the country doesn't make a better life for the creatures, it faces $24.6...

Teen Busted in Hamster Murder

She faces up to two years in prison if convicted

(Newser) - A Brooklyn teenager has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty for slamming her little brother's pet hamster to the floor, killing it instantly, according to authorities. Monique Smith faces up to two years in prison if convicted of the charges. Anti-cruelty laws apply to creatures of all sizes, noted...

Facebook Hamster Torturers Charged

UC-Davis student set tiny pair on fire: cops

(Newser) - Two University of California students face felony animal cruelty charges after torching two hamsters with a cigarette lighter and posting video of it on Facebook , according to law enforcement authorities. One of the animals died, the other was saved by the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital on campus. Henry...

Mom to Kid With Bad Grades: Kill Your Hamster

Jailed Lynn Middlebrooks Geter forced son to do deed with hammer

(Newser) - A 38-year-old Georgia woman is in jail today after allegedly forcing her son to kill his pet hamster with a hammer after he earned poor grades in school. Lynn Middlebrooks Geter is charged with animal cruelty, child cruelty, and battery. The incident came to light when the 12-year-old boy told...

Zhu Zhu Pet Maker: Get Off Mr. Squiggles!
Zhu Zhu Pet Maker: Get Off Mr. Squiggles!
damage control
Dec 7, 2009 5:17 PM CST

Zhu Zhu Pet Maker: Get Off Mr. Squiggles!

Watchdog site used cheap equipment to back chemical claim

(Newser) - The maker of Zhu Zhu Pets is aggressively defending one of its toy hamsters against claims by a watchdog group that Mr. Squiggles contains unsafe levels of a dangerous chemical. Tests by an independent lab show the toy does not contain dangerous levels of antimony, as claimed by the GoodGuide...

This Year's 'It' Toy: Zhu Zhu Pets
 This Year's 'It' Toy: 
 Zhu Zhu Pets 
dear santa
Nov 21, 2009 4:01 PM CST

This Year's 'It' Toy: Zhu Zhu Pets

The fake hamsters are selling out quickly in stores

(Newser) - The year's "must-have" toy has been crowned. For the uninitiated, Zhu Zhu Pets are electronic hamsters. They typically cost under $10, but stores are selling out quickly and prices are soaring online. Witness the coronation:
  • BusinessWeek: "Remember the Cabbage Patch Kids craze? The Tickle Me Elmo frenzy? Meet
...

French Hotel Lets You Live Like a Hamster

Guest munch grain, sleep in haystacks

(Newser) - So much for escaping the rat race: A French hotel offers guests the opportunity to act like, of all things, a hamster for the weekend—complete with grain to eat and a wheel to run in. The “Hamster Villa” also offers haystacks to sleep in for about $148 a...

Threatened Hamsters Land France in Court

EU aims to force French to save rodent of Alsace

(Newser) - Indifference to the great hamster of Alsace has landed France in hot water with the European Union, the Telegraph reports. Fewer than 200 of the distinctive black-bellied rodents remain. EU officials, charging that France has refused all attempts to protect the tiny animal, are taking the nation to Europe's highest...

19 Stories