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A seeming obsession with taking selfies and being a cruel, irresponsible pet owner truly make for a bad combination. A vicious pet owner from England glued a hamster in a crucifixion pose to a plastic bottle just for the sick purpose of a 'selfie.'
Raeef Saeed, 24, after doing the gruesome act on the poor rodent and taking a selfie with the abused pet, then posted the photo on social media Facebook. With that post, his crime was discovered and brought to the attention of the authorities. Saeed was charged with violation of the Animal Welfare Act in a case brought by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The guy from Melrose Road, Sheffield, South Yorks then appeared at the city's magistrates' court.
RCPA inspector Jennie Ronksley said that they got a call from a concerned individual who had seen the deplorable 'selfie' that ended up on Facebook, where the post identified Saeed. Ronksley said she went to Saeed's house to show him a screenshot of the photo. Saeed admitted it was him in the photo and that he did the cruel act on the hamster. Worse, Ronksley said Saeed was even laughing and smiling about the whole thing. Saeed did not seem to understand then what all the fuss was about as he said he did not even kill the poor animal.
The inspector also reported that Saeed claimed that the rodent was a wild mouse he had caught on a glue board. Vets consulted by the animal rights office suspect, however, that it was, in fact, a pet Russian dwarf hamster. Ronksley said that Saeed owned a hamster and even showed her an empty cage. Ronsksley also shared that Saeed narrated to her how he took the rodent off the glue board with a spoon and washed it under tap water while the animal kept squealing, possibly in pain.
Ronksley said glue boards are horribly cruel and cause severe suffering to the animals unfortunate enough to get stuck in them. Removing the rodent from the board would have been excruciatingly painful for the little animal. Sticking the hamster to a bottle after what it has already been through worsened the animal's sufferings.
Saeed claimed he let the rodent go and roam after the selfie incident, but it has not been seen since then. Ronksley said they really can not establish what happened to the hamster after that. She is only certain that things could not have ended well because of the abuse.
No crime goes unpunished, even those against helpless animals as Saeed has been banned from keeping animals for a year. He is also ordered to render a one-year community service including 80 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay penalties of almost $260 plus almost $110 for 'victim surcharge.'
Saeed admitted in court that what he did was an "act of stupidity." His admission somehow mitigated his guilt.
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