Althouse: "A 19-year-old Brooklyn woman was arrested Tuesday for beating and killing her family's pet hamster."

March 9, 2011

"A 19-year-old Brooklyn woman was arrested Tuesday for beating and killing her family's pet hamster."

"Monique Smith was in a fight with relatives and took out her rage on the helpless critter, which weighed less than four ounces, authorities said. The incident took place in June. It wasn't immediately clear why she was just arrested.... A necropsy showed the hamster had suffered blunt force trauma and liver damage."

59 comments:

DADvocate said...: How do you beat AND kill a hamster? It seems one beat would do it.; 3/9/11, 12:33 PM
Sofa King said...: I hope the authorities never find out what I've been doing to mosquitoes in my leisure time.; 3/9/11, 12:33 PM
Christy said...: Sounds like the family is still angry at her.; 3/9/11, 12:35 PM
kent said...: "The Prosecution has never asked: Who started it?"; 3/9/11, 12:36 PM
Leland said...: I suspect there is more history here than just the killing of a rodent. I certainly hope their is more history than just killing a rodent. Otherwise, I'm with Sofa King. The mosquito bit first; it was self-defense.; 3/9/11, 12:37 PM
traditionalguy said...: But no one has asked what the hamster did.; 3/9/11, 12:39 PM
traditionalguy said...: What about the Zoos that feed living rodents to large snakes?; 3/9/11, 12:41 PM
Joaquin said...: Maybe the little ba$tard had it comming?; 3/9/11, 12:42 PM
Bill S. said...: This makes me sick to my stomach. That woman is evil and has problems, she needs to be watched very closely---if not punished.; 3/9/11, 12:44 PM
Toad Trend said...: "Smith tossed the bleeding pet across the street from her home, prompting a relative to contact the ASPCA's Humane Law Enforcement unit, authorities said."

How sad. This person obviously needs professional help.

wv - musect; 3/9/11, 12:44 PM
kent said...: Some of them are one whole hell of a lot tougher than you might otherwise imagine.; 3/9/11, 12:45 PM
rhhardin said...: Rodent liver is all cats leave behind, probably to conceal the evidence.; 3/9/11, 12:46 PM
Clairvius Narcisse said...: i'm sure this was justified under shariah law.; 3/9/11, 12:51 PM
pauls lane said...: Is that true Rhhardin? My barn cat leaves heads and intestines behind, although most of the time the entire carcass is left at my garage door. I call her a barn cat because she is supposed to stay in the barn but most times she's in the garage - so she considers herself a garage cat - she's a bit uppity.

Did I just rat out my cat as a rodent serial killer?; 3/9/11, 12:55 PM
Unknown said...: The hamster started it.; 3/9/11, 12:59 PM
pauls lane said...: This happened in June?

I wonder if we'll see an episode of I (almost) Got Away With It, staring this hamster killer?; 3/9/11, 1:00 PM
Florida Gator said...: Should we call the authorities for an investigation into what Ann has been feeding her "service" snake?; 3/9/11, 1:02 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: We must have better things to do with our time and tax money IMO.; 3/9/11, 1:05 PM
Tank said...: Consensus: It was self defense.; 3/9/11, 1:07 PM
VanderDouchen said...: A multi-jurisdictional task force had been tracking her for 3 years. BATFU, FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals, NYPD. They were building a case. She was smuggling a hundred guns a week into Mexico, and smuggling 10 pounds of Heroine back. She'd been identified in the Arson at the Copa Club; The ice pick murder of Joey Malbino; the executions of Tay-Tay X and Rashad Pinkerton; and they had her on income tax evasion. None of this was enough to stick in the courts. They needed more. Something big, and when the news of the Hamster killing hit their desk, they knew they had her. Then they brought in the big guns. The SPCA took control of the investigation and they took her down. Not in my city. Not in my city.; 3/9/11, 1:17 PM
chuckR said...: That woman bears watching - context is important and deliberately killing a pet is callous and troubling.

On the other hand....

I do not like animals that poop on my silverware and food; consequently, I will trap mice any way I can. Living in the country, winters are a busy season for mouse hunting. Often, snap traps don't work. Poison bait just means there is the smell of expired rodent somewhere in the walls. Have a heart traps - you do realize that releasing them into the wild as little as 50 feet away from a house is as good as killing them? So I occasionally resort to glue traps. I then place the whole mess in a plastic supermarket bag (see, they are good for something). Before dumping the bag in the trash, I put it on a workbench, pick up a nearby 2x4 and...

So, should I be worried about the mouse rights police?

ps - is that an actual picture of the deceased at the link?

pps - currently catsitting and looking forward to finding scraps of fur and mouse guts but so far no joy. Stupid cat.; 3/9/11, 1:17 PM
Christopher in MA said...: Well, Kermit Gosnell's out of a job right now; this girl sounds like she'd be a perfect replacement.; 3/9/11, 1:24 PM
Mary Beth said...: They keep mentioning the weight of the hamster. Would this have been okay if it had weighed more than four ounces? Kill the fat hamster but don't touch the slender one!; 3/9/11, 1:29 PM
Brent said...: Beating a hamster is not a good way to kill them. Beheading before sauteing makes them much more delicious.; 3/9/11, 1:40 PM
Fritz said...: LawGirl said...

Is it really really bad that my first reaction was to spit my coffee out laughing at the headline . . . I mean, the thought that someone was arrested for something we pay public employees to do in public buildings (kill rodents) just struck me as insanely funny for some reason.

But that's government sanctioned. The workers who do that are carefully trained not to inflict unnecessary pain on the mice...; 3/9/11, 1:40 PM
Brent said...: Does this mean my backyard gopher hunting with croquet mallets is illegal?; 3/9/11, 1:42 PM
Leland said...: Would this have been okay if it had weighed more than four ounces?

Wasn't fat enough to eat yet. Then again, if it was quail, she'd only need to kill a second one.; 3/9/11, 1:48 PM
Anonymous said...: I can't wait for the Law and Order version.; 3/9/11, 1:50 PM
MayBee said...: Our hamsters got in a horrible fight. One died immediately and the other died soon after. Am I Michael Vick?; 3/9/11, 1:54 PM
Superdad said...: What an absolute waste of time. That hamster is chattel. Nothing more; nothing less. While killing the little bugger is insensitive and stupid - it has no business being a crime that is worthy of the expenditure of tax dollars. If the chattel belonged to someone else, let that person file a civil case and seek damages.; 3/9/11, 2:02 PM
Leland said...: Am I Michael Vick?

Did you charge people to watch?

Can you tuck the ball and run for a first down in the face of a blitz?; 3/9/11, 2:07 PM
kent said...: Am I Michael Vick?

Were you breeding vicious, specially trained "fighting" hamsters? Did you illegally wager large amounts of money on the outcomes of (literal) death matches between them? ;); 3/9/11, 2:11 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: You don't even want to know about the underground hamster-fighting circuit. It's a bad scene, man.; 3/9/11, 2:18 PM
kent said...: You don't even want to know about the underground hamster-fighting circuit. It's a bad scene, man.

Oh, the stories I have heard have been absolutely blood-curdling, believe me! The metabolic steroids... the hookers... the all-night coke jags in cheap motel rooms... "squealers," both real and merely suspected, found sprawled and lifeless in grimy ghetto alleyways, their necks slashed from ear to ear and little "Pez" candies jammed mockingly into the gaping wounds.

God help us. God help us all.; 3/9/11, 2:33 PM
Sofa King said...: Nobody better tell them about Weasel Stomping Day.; 3/9/11, 2:46 PM
PatHMV said...: How much money was spent to conduct the necropsy on the hamster? And why? Was there really a need for forensic evidence of the precise cause of death?; 3/9/11, 3:05 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Lock up all the women. Or at least, let's draft laws to hem them in, give men a leg up in education and other areas, and warp the culture to favor them, especially in regards to children:

Females are violent.; 3/9/11, 3:09 PM
Kirby Olson said...: This sounds like an episode from Animal Cops. I like that show. I think people who hurt cats and dogs should be prosecuted as if they hurt a person with a full soul.

Hamster?

Maybe .001 of a soul (they're so light, and souls are heavy).; 3/9/11, 3:13 PM
Beth Donovan said...: Hmmm. What she did was vile, because it was a pet, and she apparently went apeshit over it for some reason - but what if the hamster bit her and she threw it down and that's how it died?

I don't know, I raise animals. I do my best not to kill them, but I did have to wring a chicken's neck once because she had been badly wounded by a raccoon - to put her out of her misery. One wonders if the people in that area would insist I drive wounded chicken to vet to be killed?

Hmmmm.; 3/9/11, 3:17 PM
Beth Donovan said...: Crack - females are no more violent than men, unless you mean the black widow spider.

She's a mean one.

And I've never seen chickens fighting each other like roosters will fight each other.

I am, however, almost as good a shot as my husband, if that makes me violent.; 3/9/11, 3:19 PM
Joe said...: A week and a half ago, I found mouse droppings in a drawer. Put out some traps and within four hours had snapped its neck.

No a record though. Several months ago, I thought I heard mouse noises in the wall, put out some traps and killed one within minutes. Killed another within days.; 3/9/11, 3:31 PM
Trooper York said...: Did anyone think to question Richard Gere?; 3/9/11, 3:39 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: My brother and I used to stuff our pet hamsters into paper-towel tubes and blow them like dart guns into the sofa. We imagined they were enjoying the thrill of flight as we would have enjoyed it. Does that make us bad?; 3/9/11, 3:40 PM
Trooper York said...: In the Model Rocketry Club in 1970 we put a hamster into a rocket built for a passenger and shot it into outerspace at Shore Road Park. The rocket had a functioning parachute and the passenger was supposed to land safely. And he did.

Unfortunately he landed on the Belt Parkway.

Nowadays they would have locked us up and thrown away the key.; 3/9/11, 3:49 PM
David said...: Chip, it would only be bad if you set fire to the little suckers as they staggered back to consciousness. Otherwise, A-ok.; 3/9/11, 4:17 PM
AllenS said...: Chip, have you ever owned a horse?; 3/9/11, 4:40 PM
LordSomber said...: I've been waiting and it's taken 3 hours before a Richard Gere joke showed up.
Get on the ball, people.; 3/9/11, 4:54 PM
Johanna Lapp said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/9/11, 5:06 PM
Johanna Lapp said...: If you want entertaining hamster fights, you need to invest some prep time.; 3/9/11, 5:08 PM
Known Unknown said...: and smuggling 10 pounds of Heroine back.

That's one tiny heroine.; 3/9/11, 5:38 PM
David53 said...: Well I will miss her. The BHTV episodes she did with Ann were some of my favorites.; 3/9/11, 5:39 PM
Known Unknown said...: I've been waiting and it's taken 3 hours before a Richard Gere joke showed up.
Get on the ball, people.

I defer to Trooper for all Richard Gere jokes.; 3/9/11, 5:41 PM
Leland said...: I defer to Trooper for all Richard Gere jokes.

Same here. I expected it, and I expected it from Trooper.; 3/9/11, 6:24 PM
Kirby Olson said...: 2 years in prison for killing the hamster is the maximum, plus a 5 grand fine. Sounds about right, to me! Ten years would be even better, plus a million dollar fine. People should think before killing pets.

Now if this would only extend to foetuses!!; 3/9/11, 6:42 PM
888 said...: More proof that the government hates you: ASPCA has law enforcement officers.; 3/9/11, 7:26 PM
Trooper York said...: Well thank you gentlemen. I was busy but I hate to disappoint.

So here's to Gerbil.

Sorry don't know any hamster songs.; 3/9/11, 7:36 PM
Chase said...: In honor of Bill S and Kirby Olson above - 2 humans with life's priorities so obviously and royally screwed up - I plan to purchase a dozen hamsters this weekend and then, with the help of young neighbors, see if they can fly.; 3/9/11, 8:15 PM
Kirby Olson said...: Animals may have souls even if they are only .0001 the size and complexity of ours. I think most people want to grant them certain rights. The hamster in Brooklyn had rights. The 19-year old Brooklyn woman assaulted the hamster. She should do time, thinking about what she did.

It's somewhat logical then to grant rights to cockroaches and to ants, I suppose, but they aren't mammals. I think mammals at least should get certain rights. Don't ask me why. They're fuzzy and have cute faces, I guess, and largely an addition to our human lives. Many people love them deeply.

Why is that so screwed up, I'd like to ask? It's more screwed up if you don't love furry cute animals, I think.; 3/10/11, 1:01 PM
Anonymous said...: It's amazing the amount of people who can't distinguish between a pest that can legally be killed vs a pet that is protected under law.

What if she had done this to a dog instead? I reckon most of you will be calling for jail time. I'd like to see someone come up with an argument about what is ethically different between killing a hamster, and a dog that way. What, do hamsters feel less pain than dogs now?

Just because something is smaller doesn't mean it is any less deserving of basic animal welfare. You people are absolutely clueless. It is so infuriating seeing these terrible arguments, as if people are trying to justify what she did. It's either cruel or it isn't.; 3/15/11, 1:26 PM