Briana Urena- 3rd Source Entry

Source: LoverGurl77983, Munchie. “TW: This Is Cruel to Do to a Hamster! | Luz Rescue Story | Munchie’s Place.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Feb. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuZqNTkUPE8. 

Munchie’s Place on youtube has been saving exotic animals for years! She owns a very small animal rescue in Washington State. Munchie rescues hamsters, gerbils, and mice with her volunteer team from neglectful homes.They find ads from craigslist or people surrendering these exotic animals and give them temporary shelter until a permanent home is found. Sometimes these rodents need to be rescued because the care provided for them was terrible, disgusting, or both. Other times it could be medical. The video shown is about a Syrian hamster called Louie and her rescue story. She is really well behaved and is super cute. When Louie was brought into Munchie’s rescue, there were many red flags. The hamster’s old enclosure was first of all vertical. Which meant very little floor space was provided. Hamsters need horizontal enclosures, 50 square inches of floor space is the recommended minimum. But of course more is always better. Glass tanks are the way to go and for starters, a bin cage. Louie’s enclosure barely had any bedding either or chewed toys. Bedding helps keep the ammonia smell down, regulates the area for the hamster’s body temperature in the hot summer days and in the cold winter nights, and lets them burrow. Louie’s old enclosure came with no wheel as well! Hamster’s travel five to ten miles a night so it’s important to get them a proper wheel. How was she able to get her energy out?! We learn that Louie is disabled because of improper breeding and has no tail?! Yep you read the right, she has no tail. Louie’s tail is completely gone when Munchie examines her. Not only that, it looks like it has been chopped off. Someone has chopped off her tail. We don’t know who did it but the family that had Louie had lots of children. At Least 4 or five young kids. It’s possible that one of the youngest kids took the hamster and cut off its tail. It was a very clean cut and very recent as if it was still healing. The person who did this, did it on purpose. Imagine the pain this poor hamster experienced. Children need to be taught to respect their pets but personally I don’t think young children should even have small pets because of things like this. Children should never be kept alone with an animal and should never be responsible for a living being. It’s the parents responsibility. Thankfully, Louie is in a better place now with the proper care and will get veterinary help soon. Sooner or later she will get adopted into a good home. I really appreciate what Munchie is doing because she’s helping these exotic animals get a better life. This could have been avoided if the parents had done their research before impulsively buying a hamster. Pet store employees are also to blame since they let the family walk out of their store with no wheel, bedding, or chew toys knowing that they had a hamster. At least educate them before selling them the hamster. But of course they won’t because they only care about the money. 

Rhetorical Analysis: 

This video was made on February 14, 2022. Munchie makes these videos to inform and teach the public about exotic animals and their rescue stories. The audience is for future pet owners and pet owners in general. The author used imagery as she showed us the hamster’s old neglectful enclosure and the scab on the hamster’s tail. She was furious that this poor hamster went through such abuse. When I saw the old cage, I felt sad because a hamster should never live in something like that. I can imagine my own hamster in a situation like that and it makes me mad on how someone would let a hamster live in such horrible conditions. I could feel Munchie’s emotion as she talked about this rescue story and I knew how devastating and serious this was. She was very informal and she talked about hamsters’ care and I really appreciate that since not a lot of people talk about it. I feel like people who definitely watch this learned many things about hamsters and how serious the abuse these exotic animals endure.