I was about 4-5 yrs old and my parents got a hamster for my brother and me. Being little kids we gave it the creative name of Mr. Hamster. The only actual memory I have of Mr. Hamster is when he stabbed me in the fucking back.
I picked him up one day and he ran up my shirt sleeve and bit me on the arm. I started to bleed and it scared me so I knocked him off of me and ran to my mom crying. In later years my then step-brother got a hamster. Guess what happened? Unprovoked, the fucker bit me and drew blood. I saw the evil in its soul that day. He bit all of us (brothers and parents) many times. We tried to be nice to him to show him that we mean no harm but it didnt matter. He would bite us just to be cruel. Many years later I went to a pet store and saw the hamsters there. I thought I would try my luck again. I spent some time trying to be nice to the hamsters and gently pet them. They bit me. From my experience, all they do is bite and be useless. Avoid hamsters. They are evil. Good riddance Mr. Hamster
I’m currently at war with the groundhogs again. They’re super cute and super destructive. They like to dig under foundations, especially my outbuildings. I got five last year; two, so far, this year.
I live trap them so that I can let any bycatch coons or possums go free. Unfortunately, I have to dispatch the groundhogs. (legally you are required to dispatch and not relocate as they carry rabies and are overpopulated due to lack of predators.)
This reminds me of the time my father wanted to rid the neighborhood of stray cats as he read up on how they can be destructive to the local environment. As a direct result of this, I killed my neighbors cat after shooting it a few times in the head (I didn’t know it was my neighbors cat). My father told me to do it. I was about 17 at the time.
Cats are absolute hell on wildlife, especially ground nesting birds, and should be removed from outdoors. That being said, that’s completely fucked up that it was put on you by your father. It also sounds like you had to use a pellet/bb gun, the wrong tool. Also sounds like you might not have had much experience killing animals, completely understandable, cute housecats is a terrible place to start with that and is fucked up. He shouldn’t have done that to you.
I had a similar experience when I was 15 and working my first job, on a farm. Had to shoot a puppy. Guess my boss thought it would make me tough or something. I managed not to throw up or cry.
My son is 15, I would never put something like that on him. He’s killed rats with rat shot. He’s watched me clean fish and squirrels. I’m hoping to have chickens next spring. My wife and I have talked about it, I’m going to teach him how to kill and clean a chicken.
Killing always makes me a little sad, as it should. I don’t even kill spiders unless it’s a black widow or a brown recluse and it’s inside a house or shed. I take the ethics of it very seriously.
However, I think that if you’re going to eat meat, you should have to kill and butcher at least once. We’d have a lot more vegans and more respect for life.
tungsten5@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
I was about 4-5 yrs old and my parents got a hamster for my brother and me. Being little kids we gave it the creative name of Mr. Hamster. The only actual memory I have of Mr. Hamster is when he stabbed me in the fucking back.
I picked him up one day and he ran up my shirt sleeve and bit me on the arm. I started to bleed and it scared me so I knocked him off of me and ran to my mom crying. In later years my then step-brother got a hamster. Guess what happened? Unprovoked, the fucker bit me and drew blood. I saw the evil in its soul that day. He bit all of us (brothers and parents) many times. We tried to be nice to him to show him that we mean no harm but it didnt matter. He would bite us just to be cruel. Many years later I went to a pet store and saw the hamsters there. I thought I would try my luck again. I spent some time trying to be nice to the hamsters and gently pet them. They bit me. From my experience, all they do is bite and be useless. Avoid hamsters. They are evil. Good riddance Mr. Hamster
Machinist@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That does sound like evil rodents.
I’m currently at war with the groundhogs again. They’re super cute and super destructive. They like to dig under foundations, especially my outbuildings. I got five last year; two, so far, this year.
I live trap them so that I can let any bycatch coons or possums go free. Unfortunately, I have to dispatch the groundhogs. (legally you are required to dispatch and not relocate as they carry rabies and are overpopulated due to lack of predators.)
tungsten5@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
This reminds me of the time my father wanted to rid the neighborhood of stray cats as he read up on how they can be destructive to the local environment. As a direct result of this, I killed my neighbors cat after shooting it a few times in the head (I didn’t know it was my neighbors cat). My father told me to do it. I was about 17 at the time.
Machinist@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Cats are absolute hell on wildlife, especially ground nesting birds, and should be removed from outdoors. That being said, that’s completely fucked up that it was put on you by your father. It also sounds like you had to use a pellet/bb gun, the wrong tool. Also sounds like you might not have had much experience killing animals, completely understandable, cute housecats is a terrible place to start with that and is fucked up. He shouldn’t have done that to you.
I had a similar experience when I was 15 and working my first job, on a farm. Had to shoot a puppy. Guess my boss thought it would make me tough or something. I managed not to throw up or cry.
My son is 15, I would never put something like that on him. He’s killed rats with rat shot. He’s watched me clean fish and squirrels. I’m hoping to have chickens next spring. My wife and I have talked about it, I’m going to teach him how to kill and clean a chicken.
Killing always makes me a little sad, as it should. I don’t even kill spiders unless it’s a black widow or a brown recluse and it’s inside a house or shed. I take the ethics of it very seriously.
However, I think that if you’re going to eat meat, you should have to kill and butcher at least once. We’d have a lot more vegans and more respect for life.