A student said she flushed her emotional support hamster down the toilet after Spirit Airlines refused to let her fluffy small pet on the plane.  

Belen Aldecosea, a 21 year old who lives in Miami Beach, Florida, told the Miami Herald that she contacted Spirit Airlines before her flight on November 21, 2017, regarding traveling with her dwarf hamster, Pebbles. She claimed the airline told her it was not a problem to bring her hamster along onto the plane.

However, when the student got to the airport she said airlines refused to let Peoples on the plane. Aldecosea said her reason was because she had to bring the hamster on this flight was that she had no one else to leaver her with. The student claimed that an airline employee suggested she either flush Pebbles down the toilet or set him free.

Aldecosea skipped her flight and tried to rent out a car, but they told her she was too young to rent one. So she did what she felt was the most humane choice

Aldecosea said she was scared, and that it was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet. Aldecosea was crying. She said she sat there in the stall crying about 10 minutes.

The student said she considered letting Pebbles run free, but could not bear thinking of her hamster freezing to death or getting eaten.

PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch told Fox News one phone call could have saved this animal, or some kind person at the airport could have helped. Flushing a living being down the toilet is not only cruel but also illegal. The person who killed this animal and Spirit Airlines, if an employee did advise the woman to drown the hamster she will be charged.

Spirit Airlines spokesman Derek Dombrowski told Fox News that the employee misinformed Aldecosea that Pebbles was allowed on the flight, but denied that an employee suggested she flush the rodent down the toilet.  

The Miami Herald noted that the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration was fine with hamsters on the flight, but airlines are allowed to choose if they want the rodents on board.

Aldecosea bought Pebbles to giver her company, and said she was very loving as if she knew she needed someone.