A GAMING arcade has been slammed for using live hamsters as prizes in a claw machine.
A dozen tiny rodents were spotted cowering in fear inside the arcade game, sparking outrage from locals about animal welfare.
The gaming centre in Shenzhen, China, had replaced the usual plush toy prizes with the hamsters, and later used fish and turtles.
Footage shared online showed the animals suffering obvious signs of stress caused by the noisy environment of the game centre and the occasional hits from the metal claw, SCMP reported.
During the recent Spring Festival holiday, the centre shut down and no-one reportedly fed the hamsters.
Some people tried to contact the citizen service hotline, but only received replies that they cannot deal with the matter because “Shenzhen does not have an animal protection law”, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
The centre has now reportedly replaced the hamsters with new fish and turtle scooping machines.
Lawyer Zhang Zi’ang, with the Beijing Dacheng Law Firm, said that the claw machine using living animals may have broken China’s Animal Epidemic Prevention Law if the shop does not have the relevant license.
China does not have a nationwide animal welfare law to protect small animals, farm animals and pets from abuse.
All the living animals were reportedly removed.
Sadly, it’s not the only arcade in China which has come under fire for using live animals.
X, formerly Twitter, is filled with footage of arcade games with live animals.
Hamsters are the common animal used in these sick games and more shockingly, people seem happy to film themselves crawling them out.
Gamers were also filmed trying to scoop a live cat out of a claw machine as a prize in China.
A boy can be seen playing on the machine lowering the sharp, metal claws over the head of a white cat.
As with most claw machines, the mechanism is far too loose and the feline is not lifted out of the booth.
The notice on the machine even reads “master, bring me home” in an attempt to encourage customers to try their luck.
In the second clip, which was posted on Facebook with the caption “this claw machine is so rigged”, it shows another gamer attempting to grab one of the five kittens trapped inside the machine.
It is not clear where exactly these machines are being offered to the public, but the videos clearly show the devices are fully functioning.
According to Chinese media, the owners reportedly wanted to come up with a fresh new way to attract customers, so they started trialling “live cat claw machines”.
