Firemen give pet hamsters oxygen

29 September 2014, 11:09

US firemen used oxygen and first aid to save a family of pet hamsters caught in a mobile home blaze.

The crew, from the Lacey Fire Department in Washington state, relied on 'pet emergency pocket guides' to bring the injured rodents back to life.

Five hamsters - Oreo, Madonna and three unnamed baby hamsters - - were recovered from the blaze. Unfortunately, one of the pets later died.

Thankfully, no humans were in the trailer at the time of the fire caused by a faulty tumble drier.

The fire department later tweeted: "Yes. Our crews are trained and specially equipped to care for animals that have been rescued from a house fire."

Source

Hamuketsu: Japan's new craze for hamster bottoms

By News from Elsewhere...

...as found by BBC Monitoring

The Japanese obsession with all things cute has reached new heights, as a craze for pictures of hamsters' bottoms gains momentum.

More than 40,000 copies of photo books of "hamuketsu" - a word that's a mash-up of the Japanese for hamster and bottom - have already been sold, and one of the publishers has set up a Facebook page dedicated to furry hamster behinds. The page has thousands of fans and hundreds of photos have been uploaded so far.

"The great thing about hamuketsu is that it is delightfully cute," a spokesman for Basilico, one of the publishers, tells the Wall Street Journal. "I can't stop smiling when I see these bottoms." Another bookon the topic is called Hamuketsu: So Cute You Could Faint.

The phenomenon is the latest development of an aspect of modern Japanese culture known as kawaii, meaning "cute" or "adorable". The aesthetic rivals Japanese art's traditional devotion to minimalism and nature, and is prevalent in everything from fashion to music.

Continued

British family shocked after pet hamster comes back from the dead

A BRITISH family is in shock after its pet hamster not only came back from the dead and clawed his way out of a 50cm grave.

Dave Eyley had buried the four-year-old hamster after he found him "cold and lifeless" in his cage in Wantage, southern England, over the Easter weekend, The Sun reported.

But the plucky rodent, called "Rhino," was spotted scampering around the garden by a neighbour the next day.

Mr Eyley, 49, thought it was a mistake but when he checked the spot where he had buried the hamster in a plastic tub he found a five-centimetre hole where the pet dug his way out.

He said: "He had rigor mortis when I buried him - and now he's running about.

"He's a plucky little soul and seems unaffected by being dead and buried. We're stunned - but happy to have him back."

Read more about pet hamster coming back from the dead at The Sun.




http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/the-other-side/british-family-shocked-after-pet-hamster-comes-back-from-the-dead/story-e6frfhk6-1226326178931

Huge Hamsters and Pint-Sized Porcupines Thrive On Islands: Researchers Test 'Island Rule' of Rodent Evolution

ScienceDaily (Mar. 23, 2012) — From miniature elephants to monster mice, and even Hobbit-sized humans, size changes in island animals are well-known to science. Biologists have long believed that large animals evolving on islands tend to get smaller, while small animals tend to get bigger, a generalization they call "the island rule."

A new study by researchers at Duke University and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, N.C. puts that old idea to the test in island and mainland rodents.

"Some of the size changes observed in island animals are pretty dramatic," said Paul Durst, a doctoral student at Duke and the lead author of a study appearing in the April issue of The American Naturalist. The fossil remains of dwarf elephants found on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, for example, suggest that they shrunk by more than 90 percent over evolutionary time. Island giants are impressive too -- an extinct group of West Indian rodents known as giant hutias are estimated to have weighed up to 440 pounds, or as much as an American black bear.

But some animals still prove a puzzle. "Large animals like elephants and deer have a pretty consistent pattern. They all tend to get small. But it's more complicated for other animals such as rodents," Durst said.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120323134934.htm

Hamster killer spared prison term

A man who killed his ex-girlfriend's hamster by throwing it out of a window during a row has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Ryan Goodwin, 23, hurled the pet, Kaya, in its cage from the first-floor window of his council flat during a furious argument with Sarah Symons during their break-up.

Goodwin, who has a £70 per week cannabis habit and receives £800 a month in benefits, was sentenced at Plymouth Magistrates' Court after admitting animal cruelty and being found guilty at an earlier trial of using threatening behaviour during the row in January.

District Judge Paul Farmer also banned him from keeping animals for seven years, telling him: "If you had been sent to prison today you could have no complaint. What you did was disgraceful."

Miss Symons was talking to police on her mobile phone when the incident occurred, and her horror was captured by the police 999 recording.

Goodwin, of Ipswich Close, Plymouth, arrived at court with Miss Symons.

Judge Farmer was told they had since reconciled and were again living together.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/hamster-killer-spared-prison-term-120811721.html

I want to be a ham-star

Click to enlarge

Metro Ireland, 26 November 2009, p5.

French firm opens 'Hamster Hotel'

Tuesday, November 17 2009, 14:00 GMT
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

A French company has opened a hotel modelled on a hamster cage.

Rooms at the Nantes hotel cost €99 (£88) and include a giant exercise wheel, water bottle, seed holder and bed filled with hay, Reuters reports.

Hamster Villa co-owner Yann Falquerho said: "The hamster in the world of children is that little cuddly animal.

"Often, the adults who come here have wanted or did have hamsters when they were small."

First guests Maud and Sebastien said that the experience gave them the chance "to become a hamster, eat seeds, change our way of life [and] come out of our daily routine".

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a187271/french-firm-opens-hamster-hotel.html

Thief caught with wet hamster in his glove box

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

When police searched the car of an alleged robber they found two things: the item he was accused of stealing... and a live hamster.

The animal was found in the glove box of Hans Kaiser's car after police searched his vehicle in Lighthouse Point, Florida.

Kaiser, 43 was arrested for suspected animal cruelty, two theft charges and one count of driving with a suspended license.

The hamster was taken to a local wildlife rehabilitation centre.

Police say Kaiser stole several eyeglass frames from the Eyesite Vision Center.

He was found an hour after the alleged theft by police as he walked to his car from a bar.

An eyeglass frame was found in the car, but so was a wet, frightened hamster inside the closed glove compartment.

Officers thought it was dead rat at first but then it moved when they touched it. They believe the hamster was in the car for an hour.

Kaiser has not explained why he had a hamster in his car.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Thief_caught_with_wet_hamster_in_his_glove_box&in_article_id=717734&in_page_id=2

France to face EU court over great hamster disappearance

The European Commission plans to take France to Europe's highest court for failing to protect the great hamster of Alsace, a species threatened with extinction, an official said Thursday.

The official, who is linked to the proceedings and declined to be named, said that French authorities had refused all approaches by the commission to protect the small mammal, also known as the European hamster.

According to the EU's executive body, the rodent requires around 240,000 hectares (600,000 acres) of protected land to thrive, but the species has been shoe-horned into under 3,500 hectares in eastern France, reducing its food supply.

Once considered a pest by farmers in the Alsace region -- where about 80 percent of the land is used to grow corn -- the hamster has been protected since 1993 and is considered one of the most threatened mammals in Europe.

Its numbers have plummeted from over 1,000 in 2001 to fewer than 200 in 2007, and have continued to decline over the last two years.

The commission is taking the action at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the official said, to force France to take action to save the hamster, which is also under threat from increasing urbanisation in the region.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090625/tsc-france-to-face-eu-court-over-great-h-4f03b23.html

Hamster Power: The Greener Cleaner

4:28pm UK, Monday March 02, 2009

Could this be a new solution for vacuum cleaning your house?


All you need is a hamster in its exercise ball and a roomba vacuum to save you the trouble of cleaning.

A clever group have come up with the idea and uploaded a video to YouTube in the hope of generating a hit on the video sharing site.

The hamster is placed in a ball which is connected to a robotic vacuum and the rest is down to the energy generated by your furry friend.

The hamster runs in any direction it likes and the robot cleaner follows the motion of the hamster ball.

Not only is it a greener way to vacuum, your pet can also get its daily exercise.