A college student says that she was forced to flush her emotional support hamster down the toilet when Spirit Airlines refused to let her bring it onto the plane.

Belen Aldecosea, a 21-year-old Miami resident, says that she called asked Spirit Airlines if she could bring her pet dwarf hamster, Pebbles, onto her Nove. 21, 2017 flight from Baltimore to South Florida and was given the go-ahead.

However, when she arrived at the airport gate agents refused to let the dwarf hamster onto the plane. And that’s when, Aldecosea says, a Spirit employee suggested that she either flush the hamster or let it go free.

Since she was too young to rent a car and drive to South Florida if she missed her flight and afraid of what might happen to the hamster if it ran free she says she made the more difficult choice: “She was scared. I was scared. It was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet. I was emotional. I was crying. I sat there for a good 10 minutes crying in the stall… I didn’t have any other options.”

Spirit Airlines spokesman Derek Dombrowski told airlines-employee-told-student-to-flush-emotional-support-hamster-down-toilet-student-alleges.html”>Fox News that an employee misinformed Aldecosea that Pebbles was allowed on the flight but denied that an employee suggested she flush the rodent down the toilet.

For more on this story, go to The Miami Herald.

[Image: Max Pixel]