RSPCA officers have spoken of their shock after picking up a pet hamster which was reportedly thrown out with household rubbish due to be collected by refuse collectors the following day. 'Harry', a Syrian hamster, was found in his enclosure alongside bags of general waste at Penllyn, Cwmavon, near Port Talbot, by a concerned member of the public who noticed him moving around inside his cage and called the RSPCA.
Messages had been scribbled onto the base of Harry's cage including "name Harry," "pick me up," "I like food" and "do not destroy" but it's unknown who owned Harry and why he was abandoned with the rubbish. For more stories about Cwmavon, go here, and for more stories about the RSPCA, go here.
“Poor Harry had literally been thrown out with the rubbish," explained RSPCA animal rescue officer Paula Milton, who collected him on Thursday, March 2, and took him to a local RSPCA rescue centre. "He's friendly, in good condition and had been kept in a well-stocked enclosure, so he’d clearly been looked after in the past.
"It was a callous way to treat an animal and a very undignified ending for a pet who had presumably been a member of someone’s family. We know that, financially, it’s a very difficult time for many people right now, but abandoning animals is never the answer and we’d urge anyone who is struggling to reach out for help and support.”
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Harry, who has been renamed Hermon, is now being looked after at the Llys Nini Animal Centre in Penllergaer. Staff have said he is doing well and they'll be looking for a new home for him in due course.
The RSPCA has said it's seeing a "surge in abandonments" across the UK, thought to be linked to the cost-of-living crisis - we covered this previously here - and that officers in Wales had dealt with a spate of recent incidents including:
A female cat and her four very young kittens found in a carrier in a wooded area in Blaenavon on March 1, all of whom are now in RSPCA care
Four newborn kittens - two of whom had sadly died - abandoned in a cardboard box next to a path in Ravenhill Park in Swansea on 24 February. The surviving kittens are being hand reared by an RSPCA inspector.
Two rabbits discovered in a cardboard box outside the charity’s Hartridge Farm Road animal centre on February, 22
Three, six-week-old bunnies who’d been left under a climbing frame at a children’s play park in Newport on February, 4 also now in RSPCA care.
The RSPCA is providing dedicated "cost-of-living support" for worried pet owners, with a new telephone helpline on 0300 123 0650 and an online hub, which has lots of practical tips and advice, including details of pet food bank schemes.
Anyone with information about the abandonment of Harry the hamster in Cwmavon is asked to contact the RSPCA’s inspectorate appeal line, in confidence, on 0300 123 8018. You can get the latest Neath Port Talbot news stories straight to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign up here
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