I went out to do some Christmas shopping with a friend and stopped by the pet store to check out the animals. Of course, I always check out the guinea pigs because they're so cute, and today I happened to spy a shared enclosure with several female pigs a few months old, and one very obvious male pig in with them! I mean, REALLY? All those girls are surely pregnant by now... they'll be sold to unsuspecting people who will end up bringing the babies back to the pet store who will then basically get more sales stock without having to pay for them. It just makes me mad because it's so obviously negligent... there are other pet stores in my area that, although they are still selling for profit, make a much better effort to avoid unplanned pregnancies, etc. My pigs are actually pet store pigs (I was too inexperienced to think of rescuing my initial pair of pigs, and since then I've always been looking to bond a new pig with a bereaved pig and the one area rescue only offers already bonded pairs, and there are not a lot of options as far as guinea pig rescues in Ontario), but at least I only go to the pet store that separates by gender (has boys in one store, girls in another, they are separated prior to shipping) and where I never see pigs that have runny eyes, runny noses, fungal infections, etc. If that one chain can separate them as babies and keep them separate and not have pigs available that are obviously ill, why can't the other? Ironically, the store with the higher standards actually charges less for their pigs that the one that constantly has sick-looking, potentially pregnant pigs! Grrrr... just had to vent. I will probably send them an e-mail, but I know it won't accomplish much.
I always help animals I find, I once found a cat on the side of the road who had been hit by a car and he was dragging both back legs behind him and he was covered in poo so I picked him up and put his back legs in a carrier bag and tied it around his belly to stop poo going all over and put him in my car rang the rspca and they put me in touch with an emergency vet who opened up the surgery for me (it was about 2am). The vet said he has possibly broken his spine and may have to put him to sleep so I rang them the next morning and they couldn't save him they said the damage was too bad 
I was so upset that someone ran him down and left him suffering at the side of the road! Yes I think people have the attitude of "oh it's dying anyway" towards their pets they can't be bothered because they can put the cage in another room and ignore it, you definitely did the right thing with your hamster, I hate thinking of something in excruciating pain and just been left on its own, and that's what most people do these days I see it all the time on an American show I watch called dogtown (I am in the uk) and this show more time than not it ends happily and they are amazing but the things some people do to those dogs is shocking we need to change the world! X