How To Care For A Hamster

France faces fines over improper care of its hamsters

(CNN) -- France is facing fines and penalties after Europe's highest court found the government has failed to do enough to protect its hamsters.

In a case that stretches back three years, the European Court of Justice said Thursday that the French government hasn't adequately conserved the remaining few hundred Great Hamsters of Alsace still living in a small enclave in eastern France.

"The court finds that the measures implemented by France in 2008 were not adequate to enable effective avoidance of deterioration or destruction of the breeding sites and resting places of the European Hamster," the ECJ said in a statement.

The little 10-inch rodents are considered pests by farmers there, and were trapped, poisoned almost out of existence by the early 1990s when they got official protection.

But as the last surviving example of hamster left in western Europe, the court says they deserve better protection in line with the suit by European Commission regulators.

"The commission complains that in 2008, France failed to take adequate measures to ensure strict protection of the European Hamster in Alsace (France), the only region where it is present," the court said.

The hamster is at risk of extinction as a result of harmful agricultural practices and urbanization, which disturb its breeding and resting places, according to the court.

Changing farming practices combined with encroaching building and urbanization in recent decades have led to the destruction of nearly all their burrows along the rivers there, leading to a population collapse.

The commission said the switch to summer-ripening maize in many farms had further harmed the population because when the white-pawed, black-bellied hamsters wake up from hibernation in the spring, there's no seed to eat.

And while the court praised a move to grow winter crops and alfalfa that the hamsters like to munch on, it found that the government-backed moves were too little and too late.

There are only about 800 of the animals still alive, but that's several times more than were alive just a few years ago.

Still, the court determined that there had to be nearly twice the current number of the little creatures to sustain their population.

The French Ministry of Agriculture was not immediately available for comment.

“Hammy” a Groundspeak Hamster Finds a New Home | Latitude 47

Jon Hudson ( Dakar4x4 ) will always remember an afternoon phone conversation on May 26th. The quick call marked the finale after weeks of questioning and anticipation.

His daughter Charlie ( FluffyDog ) called Jon at work to say the postman finally delivered a small package. The box arrived at their United Kingdom home from Seattle, Washington in the United States. He says, “Her excitement was unforgettable.”

The package contained a glossy eyed battery-powered hamster. The toy hamster had starring role in a Geocaching.com video. The segment aired in a continuous loop while the website received a major update in early May. The “Geocaching.com Hamster Power” video played on an old joke – that Geocaching.com is actually powered by hamsters. (It’s not.)

Inside the package Charlie also found the hamster’s purple wheel and a note. Jon says, “She had the cutest hamster (the exact same one she had taken a liking to in the video) and an adoption certificate from everyone at Groundspeak, even Signal.”

But Jon says he never intended to adopt a toy hamster and Charlie has a cautious interest in any real pets, “She adores animals, but is equally scared out of her wits by them. It takes a long time for her to trust whatever geo-pet we meet on our adventures together, and of course, caching outdoors and going to caching events, we meet a lot!”

However, the hamster video struck a chord with Charlie. Jon says,”When Groundspeak announced the retirement of their aging Hamsters with the really cute video, I just had to show Charlie! She watched it again and again and again, still does in fact! As soon as the site was upgraded though, the video disappeared from the main screen and she asked where all the hamsters had gone. I explained that as per the story, they had been retired and the new ones were now running the geocaching site behind the scenes. Her immediate reaction was to ask where the retired ones had gone now that they were retired. That of course left me somewhat stumped, and so after being asked many times, I agreed to email.”

Soon a Groundspeak Lackey emailed a response. Jon quickly showed Charlie, “When she came home from school I watched her read it, she could not contain her excitement! One of the retiring Hamsters was going to be adopted over to Charlie! Now it wouldn’t be me getting the questions about checking the emails every hour for a response, but our poor post man, who was watched like a hawk for anything Hamster shaped being delivered from Seattle!

Hamtaro Hamster Care Guide

Hamsters

Dwarf hamsters, everything about purchase, care, feeding, and housing

Hamsters, How to Care for Them, Feed Them, and Understand Them

Caring for Your Hamster