Given that it’s not uncommon for kids to injure themselves jumping from high places using a sheet as a parachute, I don’t think we need to be assuming malice here.
I have firsthand experience. I was a 9 year old (and younger) with hamsters. Yes I was stupid, but it only took one time of taking the hamster outside and setting him in the grass to see him bolt in 2 seconds. I was able to get him back, but that lesson was never lost on me.
When I was 9 I (and my friends) considered having “battles” where we hit each other with sticks to be one of the best ideas we’ve ever had. Our solution when a kid nearly got got hit in the eye with a willow switch … was to ban willow switches.
We also jumped out of trees using a trash bag as a parachute. Luckily we had just enough sense to jump just under the “break a leg” height.
Given that it’s not uncommon for kids to injure themselves jumping from high places using a sheet as a parachute, I don’t think we need to be assuming malice here.
9 year old hamster owners know that unattended hamster outside run away in seconds.
I don’t think you’ve been around many 9 year olds
Kids are stupid
I have firsthand experience. I was a 9 year old (and younger) with hamsters. Yes I was stupid, but it only took one time of taking the hamster outside and setting him in the grass to see him bolt in 2 seconds. I was able to get him back, but that lesson was never lost on me.
When I was 9 I (and my friends) considered having “battles” where we hit each other with sticks to be one of the best ideas we’ve ever had. Our solution when a kid nearly got got hit in the eye with a willow switch … was to ban willow switches.
We also jumped out of trees using a trash bag as a parachute. Luckily we had just enough sense to jump just under the “break a leg” height.
So, you were stupid until you tried something and learned from it?
You don’t see the parallels here?
That doesn’t make it a universal truth or general hamster behaviour. We’ve played outside with our hamster plenty of times as kids, it never ran away.
In fact, the only animal that we had run off was the turtle … it was found 3 month later in a garden a couple of houses down the block.