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Original poster

Hamsters are illegal?!

87 replies

NinaNobody · 15/02/2025 23:09

In Australia?
Just read this and am wondering why?
It does say because of the ecosystems but how could pet hamsters affect that?

I mean hamsters are quite common pets here but they don't spill out into the wild? I've never seen a wild hamster?

Is there a more specific reason?

OP posts:
Neodymium · 16/02/2025 12:15

powershowerforanhour · 16/02/2025 09:56

"Cats should definitely be banned in Australia. High murder count of things that didn't evolve alongside them."

I know that serious consideration was given in New Zealand to banning outdoor cats, or banning cats altogether, for this reason.

I have a cat rehomed from work as a youngster. She's 17 now and when she dies I probably won't replace her. She probably does help with rodent control on the farm but we don't have many rats here anyway and we're trying to encourage birds and other wildlife. Even at her age she is still a brilliant and brutal killer.

You aren’t allowed outdoor cats here. They are supposed to be contained to your property. Because they kill so much native wildlife. I always find posts here strange with people talking about their outdoor cats. Cat posts and people letting their cats out is a very controversial topic on my local community pages. Always people saying to just let the cats be and to mind own business when someone else complains about a roaming cat.

Scorchio84 · 16/02/2025 12:38

powershowerforanhour · 16/02/2025 08:10

"I'm all for reintroducing native wolves here because Deer are eating EVERYTHING, even in The Phoenix Park around the corner."

Not sure the picnickers in Phoenix Park would be too happy about wolves...and a population of wolves there would be a genetically tiny, isolated pool like the Isle Royale wolves.

The deer in Phoenix Park are culled to manage numbers, as emotively described here:
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/sniper-kills-38-deer-phoenix-29872910?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#google_vignette

If not culled then you'd probably end up with an Oostvaardersplassen type scenario with hordes of starving animals in a barren, stripped landscape, so realistically it's culling down numbers by rifle or get rid:
https://iwt.ie/time-to-remove-the-deer-from-the-park/

You're right, I was only being half serious but yeah deer are a massive problem, as are the people feeding them in the park for Insta pics... & yeah my cousins take part in some culls up & down the country, the Lisa Simpson in me when I was a teen was horrified but now I'm fully aware why it's done 😆

Gymmum82 · 16/02/2025 12:41

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 15/02/2025 23:29

My DDs ancient hamster died this week 😢 he was a great little pet, very sweet natured and entertaining.

I'm not sure rats are really the same...

Rats make great pets. Intelligent. Friendly and entertaining. Generally far less aggressive than hamsters and enjoy being handled, which hamsters also seem to hate. Bonus of not being nocturnal too

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Other pets & animals
lettyraines · 16/02/2025 13:06

RunAwayTurnAwayRunAwayTurnAway · 16/02/2025 11:16

Interesting thread.

I have also heard that French lavender is banned in Australia as it lives so well in the habitat and spreads like wildfire.

Definitely not banned.

TracyBeakerSoYeah · 17/02/2025 01:26

JassyRadlett · 15/02/2025 23:45

I'm Australian (but living in the UK for many years).

Preventing more non-native species from establishing themselves in the wild and harming our native wildlife is a massive deal in Australia, because we've seen the economic and ecological devastation they can cause - others have mentioned rabbits (I grew up in a state where pet rabbits are illegal), foxes, wild dogs, cats and pigs, blackberries, lantana, prickly pear, even flipping buffalo... it's estimated that invasive species have cost the agricultural economy over $390bn in the last 60 years.

And you can't trust people not to be stupid about these things. 20 years ago I had to work on a case where a dentist had red eared slider turtles/terrapins and had been giving baby ones as pets to his young patients. Some of the idiots released them into waterways when they didn't want them any more, and the risk to local species was absolutely huge. The eradication efforts cost a bomb too.

This is an interesting thread because after being intrigued about 'dangerous blackberries' (imagining anthropomorphic sinister blackberries going round neighbourhoods causing death & destruction en masse) I did some research & learnt that not only are blackberries classed as weeds but actually are quite destructive: https://www2.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/pest-animals-and-weeds/weeds/widespread-weeds/exotic-vines/blackberry

https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/weeds/weeds-information/blackberry

And to think all I originally did was to come on MN tonight to do a quick search to see if there was a 'Temptation Island' thread & ended up down a right rabbit hole as this 'Illegal Hamster' thread came up in the search results!

Edit: Tidied up post

Neodymium · 17/02/2025 11:29

TracyBeakerSoYeah · 17/02/2025 01:26

This is an interesting thread because after being intrigued about 'dangerous blackberries' (imagining anthropomorphic sinister blackberries going round neighbourhoods causing death & destruction en masse) I did some research & learnt that not only are blackberries classed as weeds but actually are quite destructive: https://www2.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/pest-animals-and-weeds/weeds/widespread-weeds/exotic-vines/blackberry

https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/weeds/weeds-information/blackberry

And to think all I originally did was to come on MN tonight to do a quick search to see if there was a 'Temptation Island' thread & ended up down a right rabbit hole as this 'Illegal Hamster' thread came up in the search results!

Edit: Tidied up post

Edited
Show quote history

Yep I found this out recently too, I love blackberries and when I searched online for some seedlings all I could find was blackberry killer

JassyRadlett · 17/02/2025 13:47

Neodymium · 17/02/2025 11:29

Yep I found this out recently too, I love blackberries and when I searched online for some seedlings all I could find was blackberry killer

Show quote history

When I first moved to the UK I was really struck by all the things from eg Enid Blyton and other childhood books that seemed extremely fictional to a kid from rural Queensland that were totally normal here.

I still get a thrill eating wild blackberries.

Scorchio84 · 17/02/2025 18:47

My auntie had them & some red berries too that we used to mill.. Oh & my neighbour had Gooseberries, I was a wagon for eating them 😆

sashh · 18/02/2025 11:15

zaxxon · 16/02/2025 08:42

If only we could have quokkas roaming wild in the UK! It would improve the national mood no end.

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It so would. I think they are my favourite animal, well worth a visit to Rottnest.

Neodymium · 19/02/2025 08:58

JassyRadlett · 17/02/2025 13:47

When I first moved to the UK I was really struck by all the things from eg Enid Blyton and other childhood books that seemed extremely fictional to a kid from rural Queensland that were totally normal here.

I still get a thrill eating wild blackberries.

Show quote history

Oh I loved Enid blyton stories.

TorroFerney · 19/02/2025 09:01

NinaNobody · 15/02/2025 23:16

Sorry I just thought it was a weird/interesting thing and other people might think so too :(

It was on Bondi vets

Do you watch nothing to declare? They are very strict about food, it’s quite interesting how vigilant they are. The American one is drugs and people without visas, Australia more people from south east Asia bringing kilos and kilos of food and not declaring it.

Neodymium · 19/02/2025 11:49

TorroFerney · 19/02/2025 09:01

Do you watch nothing to declare? They are very strict about food, it’s quite interesting how vigilant they are. The American one is drugs and people without visas, Australia more people from south east Asia bringing kilos and kilos of food and not declaring it.

Show quote history

Yep sounds about right. All the plant matter coming in.

border security once threw out some 300 year old dried fern samples from France that were on loan to a university.

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