In February, a woman was sentenced after over 1,000 hamsters were found in her apartment. Now her partner, a 55-year-old man, is being sentenced in the same case.
The stench in the stairwell came from the couple’s apartment in the Stockholm area. Inside the door they kept over a thousand hamsters in buckets without water. And a turtle on the balcony.
– They had lost count and had no list, there were hamsters everywhere. They had no idea at all, says an animal welfare officer at the County Administrative Board in questioning.
The man told in questioning that he picked up many of the hamsters from a relative in order to take care of them himself.
– Before I picked up the animals, I call it a hobby. It wasn’t amounts we’re talking about. But after we had collected all the animals, it was like an explosion. It filled a Volvo V60 anyway, says the man.
40 hamsters in a plastic tray
Only one in a thousand hamsters had an exercise wheel. There was no place for the food in the cages and the animals could not dig without disturbing someone else, writes the County Administrative Board in a report. The water bottles were so dirty, with a green coating that they had to be thrown away. And the pregnant females had no place to live.
– They didn’t want us to take the females with cubs that were in buckets in the bathroom, says an animal welfare officer at the County Administrative Board.
The buckets were open and the dog, which was in the apartment, could easily put its nose down and create a major safety risk and stress for the rodents, the County Administrative Board continues. The “cages”, which lacked fresh water and food, were stacked so they could collapse.
– They also did that when we were there. In one box, for example, there were 40 hamsters in a storage space which, according to the dimensions, could only hold a maximum of four individuals, says an animal welfare officer at the County Administrative Board.
The verdict: Daily fines
Close to 150 hamsters were directly taken into care by the County Administrative Board. For the remaining 800 hamsters, the man would “correct the deficiencies”. On Wednesday, the man was sentenced on several points in the Animal Protection Act for having breached his duty to give the animals water, food and adapt the conditions to them. The man himself denies any wrongdoing.
He is sentenced – just like his partner – to 50 daily fines, which corresponds to SEK 2,500.
– I have been walking like a robot and fixing things. Then came the County Administrative Board and the police. We got a kick in the ass to act. So there was nothing negative, says the man.