A landscaping employee did not know what he saw when he was hoeing in the Brouwerstraat in Etten-Leur on Monday morning. Under a construction site stand was a dirty cage full of mud, poop and a live hamster. The animal ended up with animal lover Ricky Fiddelers; she caught him and started looking for a new owner for Puck, as the hamster is now called. “It’s crazy that people put such an animal on the street. This is simply not possible.”
On Monday morning around eight o’clock, the cage containing Puck was found by a landscaping employee. “I know the person from the vegetable garden and he didn’t know what to do with the hamster, so he brought the animal to me. We sometimes take care of animals if there is a problem,” says Ricky.
When the cage was brought to Ricky, it was still questionable whether the hamster was still alive. “We first completely cleaned and disinfected the cage, put litter in it and took food. Puck was in a transparent tunnel and eventually he came down very carefully,” she says.
Ricky himself has dogs. That is why it was not convenient to keep the hamster yourself. “A friend of mine, Rian, is crazy about hamsters. So I called her to ask if she could take care of the hamster,” Ricky continues. Rian came to visit Puck that same evening and she immediately fell in love. Rian is surprised that Puck survived the cold outside. “Hamsters can’t handle that at all.”
“It’s still a young animal, about eight weeks old.”
According to Rian, it is a golden hamster that is not yet that old. “It’s really still a young animal, about eight weeks old,” she says, while she is with Ricky. “I think maybe he was with a family and he bit him once and that’s why they got rid of him. Unbelievable.”
Ricky decided to share a photo and Puck’s story on the neighborhood app Nextdoor. “I shared it because it’s just incomprehensible that someone would do something like that,” she says. Many people agree with her because in the comments below mail is responded with ‘heartless’, ‘monstrous’ and ‘humans are horrible creatures’. It also reminds some people of the Albert Heijn Christmas advertisement, in which the supermarket’s well-known hamster plays the leading role.
One of the reactions was very special for Ricky and Rian. “I may have a free hamster cage for Puck,” wrote Miriam from Breda. “That is really so sweet,” says Rian. “She has a nice cage, all kinds of things and food given for free. And so everyone has contributed, no matter how small the animal is.”
“You have to put in some effort when you take an animal like that.”
All’s well that ends well for Puck. The animal is now in a beautiful and clean cage with food and water at Rian’s house. “He has bitten me once, but that’s part of it. Yesterday I let him in and out of the cage several times and gave him pine nuts to tame him a bit. You have to put in some effort if you have such an animal. takes.” And Ricky is relieved that Puck now has a golden basket: “He couldn’t be in a better place than where he is now!”