Mom Forces Son to Kill Pet Hamster Because of Bad Grade
Every parent has their own style of disciplining their child. None is right or wrong. But we can probably all agree the alleged actions of a Georgia mother are just plain wrong -- she is accused of forcing her son to kill his pet hamster, all because he received a bad grade in school.
According to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the 12-year-old boy came home with a bad grade last week. Police say as punishment, Lynn Middlebrooks Geter handed the boy a hammer, and told him to kill the hamster.
The day after he was forced to kill his pet, the child told his teacher, Meriwether County Sheriff Steve Whitlock told the AJC. The teacher notified child protective services, which called police. Geter was arrested at her home last Friday. The 38-year-old Geter faces one charge each of animal cruelty, child cruelty and battery.
Geter's husband, Brad Geter, decline to comment on the incident when the newspaper reached him by phone the night of his wife's arrest.
OV Social
This woman is obviously sick. She needs psychiatric care. Her children should be taken from her, she doesn't deserve to be a parent.
I don't know that killing a hamster counts as criminal animal cruelty -- I mean, it's only a hamster. But killing a child 's pet as a punishment is definitely psychological cruelty to the child. I think court-ordered psychological counseling is in order.
This reminds me of the movie "Badlands" starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen as teenage serial killers. The movie begins where the girl 's father punishes her (perhaps for violating his order not to associate with the boy ) by shooting her dog. Then she runs off with the young man and they go on a murder spree.
The woman looks mentally ill in the picture and she probably is to subject a child to such a traumatic incident. No excuse.
The kid killed the hamster on his own, and the vindictive little brat told the teacher this story because he was in trouble for a bad grade. Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions based on a couple paragraphs.
I just read the article and it said she was arrested . Someone has poor parenting styles or the kid has been blessed with criminal genes to do such a horrific thing. They all deserve counseling. Now what?
You assume the mother is guilty because she was arrested . In a case like this, it’s her word against the kid’s.
You assume he has criminal genes because he killed a rodent? I must be Ted Bundy because I slaughter my own chickens.
For the record, if she’s guilty of forcing the boy to kill his pet with a hammer, she needs a little hammer time herself.
You may not be Ted Bundy, but you have desensitized feelings for the suffering of living things.
Children who harm animals have a potential for criminal violence later. Fact, if you study juvenile delinquency.
There appears to be some issues going on here with mom and son which need to be addressed by a professional. No, I realize just because she was arrested proves nothing. Hopefully since their problems have surfaced, they both can get some family counseling before something worse happens.
You will have to be patient with my assumptions regarding your insensitivity as I am a vegetarian and my compassion for animals overrides all other theories.
You have no clue how I feel about the suffering of living things. You assume that I’m desensitized to suffering because I raise and butcher my own food . I have a much more heightened awareness of what animals experience during their lifetimes. My animals live in wide open spaces, lay eggs in nests they create, and are fed a diet that’s based on their health and not how fast they grow. After all, they end up in my (and my kid’s) bodies .
Even slaughter is quick, clean, with minimal anxiety. Mother Nature herself isn’t so kind.
This statement is a boldfaced lie. “Children who harm animals have a potential for criminal violence later. Fact, if you study juvenile delinquency.” An accurate statement would read “Children who torture animals….” The facts are that kids who are raised hunting , fishing , and farming have a lower propensity for violence and even lower delinquency rates than the national average. It can be argued that this stems from a more active role played by parents (esp. fathers) in their kid’s lives. But that’s another thread.
I cannot be patient with your assumptions because your irrationality overrides any logical argument. You have been spoon fed media hype and PETA bullet points for so long that you equate any animal use with Agri-business and the likes of Michael Vick .
Get out of the city once in awhile. Visit a family -owned farm. Bring your kids with you.
I lived in the country for approximately 40 years. My husband had cows etc, but he didn't kill them.
Harm or torture is just mincing words.
I have been a vegetarian for 32 years because I don't want to be a part of the killing of animals .
What are you feeling when you show your kids how to kill an animal? What do you feel when you take a life?
If your husband lived on a farm, he killed animals or his family did. Ask him. Maybe not the cows in the pasture, but other animals. You do realize that rats, mice, and insects are animals? The sheer number of pests that are killed to provide you with your vegetarian lifestyle totals in the billions. That’s right, billions of lives ended to feed you for 32 years. You may not want to take part in killing, but you do. You just pay someone else to do the killing for you. In your mind it’s okay as long as the blood isn’t on your hands or in your view. The self-righteousness; coupled with hypocrisy that pours out of “vegetarians” is mind boggling.
What does a lioness feel when she shows her cubs how to kill an animal? She knows she is preparing them for a life of self-sufficiency and independence. I am filled with a sense of pride when my kids understand their connection to food and the price that is paid for their meals. My nine year old daughter sums it up perfectly. “I don’t like killing animals , but I gotta eat.”
When I take an animal’s life I’m grateful. Grateful that I KNOW what went into the animal’s body, grateful that I get to live and eat a nutritious meal, free from hormones, steroids , and vaccinations. Exactly the way Mother Nature intended.