Primary school pet disappears in the half term break.
Salt-edge primary told of their sadness yesterday, as their beloved class pet hamster has mysteriously disappeared during the week of the half term holiday.
Teacher of Class 4 Pasty Jones exclaimed "Most of our children are terribly sad to hear the news of our Hammy. We've no idea how it happened. I left Joe (our caretaker) in charge of locking the cage last. We are determined to find out what exactly happened on that busy last school day."
A class 4 pupil, Poppy, gave us her views on Hammy. "I loved our class hamster, but no-one in our class really looked after it. Hammy always looked sad and lonely, locked in a cage all day."
We also interviewed caretaker Joe Smith, who stated "It is beyond me how the hamster escaped, but I can assure you it was not my fault. I made sure the cage was locked before leaving the school on that Friday. But in my eyes, Hammy had no choice but to escape. Silly kids cannot be trusted to look after an animal!"
Animal rights group member Chris Jenkins had a similar view on the situation, stating that any animal should not be allowed to be kept as a pet in any school, and is fighting for his opinion to be brought in as a law. He spoke "Hamsters are extremely nervous creatures, and should never be left on their own. It's no wonder poor Hammy escaped when he did. He was left without food for days, and a miniscule bowl of water to last him for up to a day! Children of a primary school age are not capable of looking after animals that need close attention." Local bet Pritesh Khan agrees with Chris Jenkins, also saying "all animals need to be closely attended to with great care, and it is visible here that Hammy was not take care of properly as he should be."
Child psychologist Sam Pepper suggests "I think that class pets are good for children. It helps them gain a responsibility for something, which will be good for them later in life."
There is still an on-going debate about whether children should be allowed to keep animals as pets in the classroom.
Hammy's disappearance is still a mystery,yet to be solved. We hope to bring you more in our next artcile tomorrow. Be sure to read!
