Hamsters take a stroll...

This is an old story from last September that I stumbled across today. It reminded me of my own run-in with a roving hamster.

I had gotten a call in the middle of the night for some wildlife problem or another, and I was driving through Danby on Bald Hill Road at about 2:00 am. Just before I got to the intersection of Bald Hill and 96B, something white waddled into the road in my headlights. I was going pretty slow so was able to hit the brakes.

What the %$#@??? I'd had animals run in front of me before, but I wasn't mentally prepared for a tiny white ball of fluff motoring from left to right, straight across the icy pavement.

I pulled on the brake, left the engine running, and went out into the snow. There in the middle of the road, blinking into my lights, was a very fuzzy white hamster with brown splotches. I scooped him up and went back to my truck. I don't recall what I did with him. I imagine I put him in a pillowcase, which is what I usually carry when I encounter animals that are too small for a cage or may injure feathers.

The next day I checked with the people who lived in that area, and posted some absurd flyers that said "Found. Hamster." The village store was right at that intersection, and I posted a flyer there, as well. The store owner thought the story was a hoot.

No one called. How far could a lost hamster possibly wander from home? Was he abandoned? Would someone really dump a teddy bear hamster in winter, right in the middle of a hamlet?

I told the tale to my neighbors, who said they had been thinking about getting a hamster for their son. I was happy to turn him over to them. They bought him all the usual hamster toys. That hamster lived almost four more years.