Okay, I don't follow the PETA line about animals needing to be treated as well as humans (better?).

My deeper concern for the hamster is absent...sorry.

That noted, the actions taken were insipid and cruel. Cruelty, as my sig suggests, is more of a tantrum than anything else and, as with my own toddler, tantrums cannot be rewarded if socially acceptable behavior is to result.

If we can ban felons from owning guns, we can prevent these yahoos from owning animals (at least to the extent that such is enforceable).

Cruelty to animals is demeaning to the humans involved and has been correlated with a tendency toward cruelty and violence to one's own species. A bit of a "watch" on these chaps in order to ensure that it was the ethanol that sparked it is not unwarranted.