A hamster is doing fine and is safe with a teacher after two Lower Lake High School girls allegedly put it in a microwave back in December. The incident was widely known on campus but it was not reported to authorities until March 17, the same day one of the girls brought the hamster to school and it was taken by a ceramics teacher.
The girls were released from Juvenile Hall on Thursday and are on 15-day home detention. They were arrested Monday after returning to school from spring break and charged with felony animal cruelty and booked into Juvenile Hall on Wednesday. An arraignment could be held on or before April 18.
The girls admitted in an interview with Clearlake Police Officer Carl Miller to microwaving the hamster twice because they were bored and wanted to see it go around and around in the microwave. The incident happened just a few days after it was given by the 14-year-old to the 15-year-old as a birthday present on December 10 or 11. After the second time in the microwave, the girls saw the hamster”s feet were burning and put it in the freezer.
The hamster survived, but three of her feet turned black and the girls said she chewed them off. Now the hamster runs tenderly on her little stubs, and is very adept with her one remaining front left paw and can even hoist herself out of a shoe box using a sole appendage, Miller said.
Ceramics teacher Hannelore Meier intervened and took the hamster when one of the girls had it in her classroom the day it was taken to school. She told one of the girls, “?I want you to know it”s a felony, and I”m going to keep her.””
Meier did not report the incident to authorities, but did tell another teacher and the school counselor. The incident was then reported to Animal Control. Meier has been caring for the hamster the last several weeks and has officially adopted it from Animal Control.
“I do think this is serious. Finding out that someone would do that, it”s making me shake and feel nervous. She”s got such a good personality, it makes me feel even worse about it,” Meier said.
Meier said other reports have gotten the hamster”s name and sex wrong. The hamster is female, less than one year old and is named “Boogie.”
“When she walks on her left paw it kind of looks like she”s dancing, she”s my little boogie monster,” Meier said.
She said Boogie doesn”t really run or jump, and sometimes gets tired and her stubs get sore. “We”ve put out a lot of soft paper and pine hamster filling so she”s comfortable. We”re feeding her only organic food and trying to give her as healthy an environment as possible ? She”ll walk over and over again on my palms because they”re soft, but she won”t walk around on the floor or hard surfaces.”
She said students have been really supportive and have donated food and plastic play equipment including a wheel and ball for Boogie.
Meier and Clearlake Police Lt. Mike Hermann said the hamster has been checked out by a Lakeport veterinarian, and despite losing three limbs is otherwise healthy.
“This has left many people shocked, including our officers … There seems to have been no rhyme or reason. Obviously we worry that usually animal abuse can have a tendency to lead to other issues,” Hermann said.
Miller said the police department “hasn”t seen anything like this before,” and what makes the case different is the girls” “lack of remorse and inability to acknowledge they did something wrong.”
Meier described the girls as “good kids.” Miller said the girls have no previous criminal history or disciplinary actions taken against them at school. The two are in the college-prep Upward Bound program at the high school.
Meier”s fianc? Shawn Waggener, who teaches law enforcement, echoed Lt. Hermann”s and Officer Miller”s comments about how animal cruelty can be an indicator of future violent tendencies.
“There are some people in the community with the perspective of ?oh it”s just some kids having fun and it”s not a big deal,” but certainly there is the potential for it to develop into something a lot more serious,” Waggener said.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com. To comment on this story or others, visit www.record-bee.com/observer.
