WARM SRPINGS, Ga. — Police have arrested a Georgia woman who they say forced her son to kill his pet hamster with a hammer as punishment for earning a bad grade.
Meriwether County sheriff Steve Whitlock told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday night that the 12-year-old boy told his teacher about the killing. The teacher reported it to the Division of Family and Child Services, who contacted police.
The pet's death allegedly took place at the family's Warm Springs home.
Whitlock said 38-year-old Lynn Middlebrooks Geter faces one charge each of animal cruelty, child cruelty and battery.
He said she was arrested last week and remained in the Meriwether County jail Thursday evening. It was not immediately known if she had a lawyer.
Meriwether County is located about 90 minutes southwest of Atlanta.
And the government put her IN JAIL for this? I am voting Libertarian next time!
Why is this a problem? If the goal was to kill the hamster, a hammer is an excellent tool. If the goal was to punish the boy, hamster execution is an excellent method. If the sheriff has no proof of the hamster "murder" then the purpose of this action may be to provide mom with a big wad of cash. Stay tuned for the next installment of the "Big Bang Theory".
Her best defense will be to claim this was performance art, protected by the First Amendment. Just imagine if she had burned an American flag in front of the boy!
As far as I'm concerned, this woman, if she did this, is a waste of skin and deserves more than she will probably get. Besides being unbelievably cruel to the small animal, she was just as cruel to her child. If her brains was gun powder she wouldn't have enough to blow her nose! Yes, it was "just" a hamster, but it was a living creature. I fear she has taught her child a much harsher "lesson" than just getting a bad grade. He's twelve now, but one day he's going to be older and stronger and if I were her, I sure would sleep with one eye open. THAT'S what she's taught him.
The bleeding heart animal activist will have a field day with this one. "Hamster Murdered, Weapon found, trial date set for the death penalty"
Outlaw mousetraps! It's was a rodent, folks. Get a grip.
The fact it was "just a hamster" is not the point. This young boy was forced to KILL his PET. Do you not think this has affected him emotionally?
Sadistic mother. If she would do this, who knows what other abuses she has inflicted on the poor boy.
Thank you, jucurio. Rather than thinking some are unbelievably thick I thought I hadn't expressed myself clearly. I may rethink that and offer some dry gun powder to those who may need it to blow their noses.
Johnston and Marsha -- It was a Pet ! You both are sick %^&*s just like the mom. Was he successful and killed it with one blow? If not, then the cruelty charge sticks even better. Killing an innocent pet is not acceptable parenting. Take away a special toy or television priviledges (sp). But kill an innocent pet because of a grade. She is screwed in the head.
Comments like some of these are the reason the Chronicle needs to make a change . Sickos should have a column of their very own to spew their sick rot to each other and keep it in "the family" .
NANF, you mean like the ones threatening violence to a specific person?
If someone will kill an animal in this manner, for this reason, they will kill a human. For those asking "What's the problem?", please seek psychiatric help, you have psychotic symptoms. It seems that sociopaths are becoming the norm, at least in the CSRA. Bring me a hammer and I will show you how it feels. Maybe knock a little sense into your thick skulls.
Hey my question is this, if it was " Just a rat" can we use the same thing on politicians? After all aren't they " Just Rats"?
no dixie chick please - no, only the democrats are rats.
I don't know, maybe it's from growing up on a farm where we had to know the difference between animals and people so we wouldn't brand or milk the wrong species. Assigning human qualities to animals doesn't change them into humans. Training our kids to assign human qualities to animals isn't really doing them a favor. I remember when my sister decided to call a calf a pet. When the calf became steak, my sister wouldn't eat meat for a year. We considered hitting her with a hammer, but we could tell she wasn't a hamster.
I once had a pet snake. I bought it some nice boots and a brief case. It never recovered.
Ok, I'll spot you Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Mike Castle (RINO, DE).
If her goal was to punish the boy...why not make him give the hamster away. That way no one is mentally scarred, and the hamster can still live out it's life.
Oh yeah...that would require higher thinking on the moms part!
Remember when everyone HAD to have the dwarf Asian pigs and everyone called them cute and the ADA made everyone build little sties for the little pigs with human qualities. Well, it turned out that if you fed the little pigs, they became more bacon and less cute. It seems they weren't human after all. A hammer in the head led to a nice mess of chops, ribs and ham with a little head cheese for the more adventurous. Assigning them human qualities didn't affect the flavor at all.
I wonder why the child's father didn't handle the bad grade issue? My Dad had some effective corrective therapies.
Folks it is the ACT that this woman pushed on this child. She could have made him give the hamster away or takd some other important to him possesion like a TV, a game etc.... Not teach him violence of such unusaul magnitude is the correct way to instruct better behavior.
This is horrible. The mother makes the child kill his pet as punishment for a bad grade. What's next, he has to kill his little brother or sister because he didn't bring the grade up high enough or does something else that the mother doesn't like. The emotional effect on this child will eventually play out in his life later unless he has someone he trust that he can talk to. Sad!
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