Anyone for an Alsace ‘amster?
It is the most unlikely story.
The country known for its more than laissez-faire attitude towards animal welfare, where kittens are not kittens but ‘chatons virtuels’ and duly drowned for their inconvenience, has turned over a new leaf.
France love hamsters. Fact. And let’s not have any jokes about the fact that hamsters, like weasels, are rodents.
I was surprised to hear that France wanted to save an animal that ordinarily might be considered fair game, in the literal meaning of the phrase. It might be nice with a few potatoes, maybe some cabbage. Who knows. But we shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
The French government is to fork out some 600 euros Per Alsace ‘amster to prevent the remaining ones (said to be as low as 600) from finally going to that great hamster ball in the sky. Unlikely. But true.
I dug about a bit. Well, for around 2 seconds with the simple use of a link from Wiki and whaddya know, here’s the real reason France wants to spend some £600 per hamster to prevent them dying out:
France faces huge fine for failing to save great hamster of Alsace
It turns out that £600 is cheap at the price compared to a 17 million euro fine. Oh dear. That works out at €28,333 per animal.
So there we go. It’s not becuase France has suddenly turned over a new leaf and is about to sign-up for a lifetime membership of PETA, or indeed that they’re suddenly going to take advice from the European Union, but instead they’ll be saving €27,667 per ‘amster.
Big bucks in an ailing economy. And that, it seems, is all M. Sarkozy understands. Bah ouai.
Tags: animals, European Union, fine, France, hamsters, PETA
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February 18, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Haha, this is ‘ilarious! Personally, I think hamsters are quite likable little creatures, but I’m sure Super Sarko’s campaign to save them has nothing to do with them being cute…