This Student Was Allegedly Pressured Into Flushing Her Emotional Support Hamster Down The Toilet By A Spirit Airlines Employee
The emotional support sagas continue, and each week we think it’s going to be some other ridiculous request. So what is it this time? An ostrich? A hyena? An Elephant?? No, in the case of Belen Aldecosea, it was nothing but a dwarf hamster.
That’s right, a dwarf hamster. Meaning smaller-than-average hamster. A hamster that, according to Wikipedia, is the smallest of the three species of hamster in the genus Phodopus, averaging under 2 centimetres at birth and growing to only about 5 centimeters. We could not imagine something being less of an inconvenience to anyone on board the Spirit flight of which Pebbles the hamster was denied.
According to the Fox News article, Aldecosea says she was pressured by a Spirit employee to flush her hamster down the toilet when the pet was denied entry. Aldecosea also said she “considered letting Pebbles run free outside but could not bear thinking of her hamster freezing to death or getting hit.” Couldn’t bear the idea of her pet freezing to death or being hit by a car, but she could bear the idea of killing the hamster herself, and subjecting it to what was possibly the slowest and most agonizing death?
Ridiculous! Flushing a living being down a toilet is not only cruel but also illegal, & both the person who killed this animal & Spirit Airlines—if an employee did, in fact, advise the woman to drown the hamster—should be charged. This must have been a horrific, terrifying death.
— PETA (@peta) February 9, 2018
We’re not sure who we’re more mad at, Spirit for denying the animal on the plane (whether or not they actually suggested she flush the animal, denying this two centimeter animal space on board the plane is ridiculous,) or the pets’ owner who actually took the time to think of a solution to her issue, and ultimately decided that flushing the animal to its death was the best option. Critical thinking and problem solving are clearly not your area, Aldecosea.
The worst part of the story is that Pebbles was indeed certified by a doctor as an emotional support pet. Aldecosea got the pet to keep her company when she developed a growth in her neck when she while attending school in Pennsylvania.
“She (Pebbles) was so loving. It was like she knew I needed somebody,” Aldecosea said.
Well, it seems like Pebbles could not say the same for her owner.
