Author: Briana (Page 3 of 7)

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. 

Intro:

Iv’e always been passionate about giving my hamster Mizuri, her best life. Researching, providing her necessities, using proper care, all that. I was aware that I had an exotic animal and I was determined to provide the best care for her. This lead me into doing lots and lots of research not only on hamsters but on other exotic animals as well. Ive learned many things that I never knew before about rodents, reptiles, birds, and more. There was such fascinating information but the one thing that sticked out to me the most was the common issue of their mistreatment. I was in shock hearing about peta discovering the true horrors of pet store chains and the horrible abuse they endure from neglectful homes. I felt helpless not being able to help these poor animals. What could I do stop this? Many individuals who own exotic pets attempt to change the nature of the animal rather than provide their pet’s necessities and doing research. Tactics such as confinement in small, barren enclosures, chaining, beating “into submission,” or even painful mutilations, such as declawing and tooth removal is sadly a common thing. PETA an animal organization who exposes these acts discovered a shocking truth during an investigation in Petco. Birds, reptiles, fish, and other small animals were treated like merchandise. They spent hours and days in transit from cruel suppliers, including breeding and distribution mills, and many animals were wild-caught. These animals ended up trapped in small tanks, cramped cages and were often denied even the basic necessities of life. It’s estimated that 75% of captive reptiles die within the first year in a person’s home. But of course Petco still sells them to customers who buy them on impulse, with no knowledge of their unique needs for space, heat, humidity, lighting, and more. Have you ever gone to the pet store and seen those shelves with multiple fish in these tiny small bottles stacked on top of one another with no space and barley any water? The sad thing is, this it’s viewed as “normal” to some people. We need to inform people on the dangers of buying from these sick companies and educate them on the proper care of exotic animals. They are living/breathing creatures that deserve better.

Source #1: Another Look Inside PetSmart, Inc.: A PETA Eyewitness Exposé, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) , 29 Mar. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYLMceh2DbU&t=2s. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.

Summary: In the past, PETA  has investigated many big pet store chains such as Petco and Pet smart. They discovered a wide spread of animal suffering. During 2018, a PETA eyewitness worked undercover in a pet smart in Nashville Tennessee near the companies headquarters and what they found was horrible and upsetting. To save money, pet smart employees repeatedly refused to take obviously sick, injured, dying animals for desperately needed veterinary care. A supervisor told PETA’s eyewitness not to tell customers that pet smart buys from Sun Pet; A warehouse that does unexplainable things to these poor animals. PETA discovered dead guinea pigs being left on the floors and cages, birds covered in feces, hamster’s suffering from wet tail with deadly intestinal diseases and neglected and stressed animals put on the shelves to be sold.

Key quotes:

• “PETA reported that they were taking the older and sick hamsters, putting them in bags and whacking them against the table to k*ll them”
• ” ‘Cause if you take them to the vet, you’re gonna pay an extra $200, $300. There’s no point in me paying that for a $15 animal” -Pet smart employee 
• “Small mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish continue to suffer and die agonizing deaths, tucked away in back rooms of pet smart stores and supplier mills hidden from the public view. It’s up to us as consumers to stop this cruelty”

Rhetorical analysis:

PETA’S YouTube videos are very educational and eye opening. As I was watching their videos I couldn’t believe my ears on what was being said about these pet store chains. Their videos made me want to help and take action anyway I can. Im glad that this topic is not being swept under the rug and is being talked about. The video makes its point clear and is very informal. After watching the investigation I’m definitely never ever buying from pet smart or Petco again. PETA does not sugar coat again and I appreciate that because people need to see the true horrors these animal’s face on a daily bases. Many injured animals were shown in the video and pet smart employees saying awful things about the animals. It’s just really sad and we need for this to stop.