Drunk Woman Penalized for Hurling Hamster

A woman in Perth, Scotland must perform 160 hours of community service for throwing a hamster down a flight of stairs at her sister's house during a drunken rage. Tracey McGregor, 28, launched Jeff, a hamster, more than 20 feet through the air while he was still in his cage—as the household's children fled in terror. She had already assaulted two other hamsters in their own cages. “The distress to the animal must have been considerable,” declared the presiding sheriff in court. “Your behavior distressed others in the house.... [the children] were really upset.” McGregor had turned violent after her half-sister had the temerity to suggest that she stop her drunken yelling and leave. After swatting two hamster cages to the ground, she grabbed the third and made for the stairs. Her half-sister heard a crash: “I went back out to see what had happened," she says. "She had thrown it down the stairs...the hamster was lying at the bottom.” Jeff was rushed to a vet and happily made a full recovery. McGregor, meanwhile, who "has had a difficult relationship with binge-drinking in the past," is a now marked woman, according to the sheriff: “She is noted as posing a high risk of future offending, doesn't show any remorse and continues to deny the hamster was in the cage when the evidence points to the contrary.” McGregor blames her hamster attack on “being reckless and stupid.” But a deep-rooted phobia may also have played its part: “I am terrified of them,” she admits.