British Man Jailed for Microwaving Pet Hamster
Updated: 2 hours 21 minutes ago
Print Text Size
Print this page|EmailShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DiggShare on Lifestream

Hugh Collins Contributor
AOL News
(Sept. 22) -- A British man was sentenced to nine weeks in jail for drunkenly microwaving his pet hamster.

The pet was found in a garbage bin outside the house of Anthony Parker of Hartlepool in northeast England. The animal's lips were burnt off and the eyes opaque.
Anthony Parker, 29, attempts to cover his face on arrival at Hartlepool Magistrates Court in the U.K.
PA
Anthony Parker, 29, arrives at Hartlepool Magistrates Court. The unemployed construction worker has been banned from keeping animals for five years after microwaving his pet hamster.

A post-mortem examination indicated that it died from microwave radiation, The Daily Record said.

Parker, 29, an unemployed construction worker, told the court he had been drinking all day. Following an argument with his girlfriend, he placed his pet in the microwave and turned on the power.

"I didn't mean to kill her. She was the best hamster I ever had. She was called Suzie," Parker told police, according to Agence France-Presse.

Prosecutors said Suzie died "in agony," BBC News reported

Parker said he wanted his girlfriend to see the dead pet.

He initially denied the offense, saying he was so drunk that he had no recollection of what took place. He later changed the plea to guilty.

Sponsored Links
His lawyer claimed that nothing in Parker's past indicated any disposition toward cruelty, and that he was a man of good character.

Not everyone was convinced.

"It will have been horrific for that poor little hamster," said Lucy Hoehne of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "There was no mitigation other than the fact he was drunk, but people get drunk every day and don't do things like that."

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/british-man-anthony-parker-jailed-for-microwaving-pet-hamster/19644441

Curious to know how the police got involved, was his trash randomly searched?

Not good, but I suppose that beats making her take the 'Hershey Highway'.

he showed it to his girlfriend...

hmmmmm

OMG...poor little thing...

"human kind" is neither...