Friday, June 10, 2011

Hamster news of the world

I haven't thought seriously about hamsters since I was a kid. Hamsters don't provoke serious thought while stuffing their cheeks with food; running on their squeaky exercise wheels; and above all, sleeping all day.

Your ordinary pet store hamster, descended from a hamster found in Syria, according to the Lousiana Veterinary Medical Association.

The Court of Justice in Luxembourg has brought serious news about hamsters to the world's attention.  First of all, who, other than hamster fanciers, knew there were native French hamsters? These are not ordinary hamsters. Called the Great Hamster of Alsace, they can grow up to 10 inches long. Very classy-looking critters, their faces are marked with white and reddish-brown and they have striking black bellies, as if they've been running through soot.

The Court of Justice ruled that France has not protected this endangered hamster, of which there are only 800 left alive in the wild. Considering that hamsters breed like mice, that's not many. Also like mice, they're mostly considered as a pest in the farm areas where they munch on grass and hay. Instead of obligingly planting fields with hay or leaving plenty of grassy areas, the farmers have been planting corn, resulting in very hungry hamsters ranging far from home--and getting killed-- in search of food.

Here's a  video of a pet European hamster; she doesn't appear to be fond of meal worms. And here is the place to read the full story.

6 comments:

  1. We had hamsters for years as pets. My son loved them!
    Have a nice weekend!

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  2. The hamster video star is the one on the piano keyboard eating a piece of popcorn.

    Not to mention the rare filigree Siberian hamster (easily mistaken for a rat) of which Manuel owned a specimen on Fawlty Towers. ("You have rats in Spain, don't you, or did Franco have them all shot?")

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  3. When we started blogging over 4 years ago, one of our friends was Fufu the Hamster. When Fufu died, his hooman got another hammie and her name was Girl Girl. She doesn't blog anymore but it was sure fun reading about her when she did!

    Love ya lots
    Maggie and Mitch

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  4. We had hamsters when we were kids. My sister had one named Rocky, who would come when you called him. :)

    That great hamster of Alsace would be quite a sight to see ... amazing that a hamster could get that big!

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  5. Hello!

    You have been given an Inspiration Award!
    Stop by my blog to pick it up:

    http://whatdogsdo.blogspot.com/2011/06/inspiration-award.html

    x E.A.

    ReplyDelete