Claw machines are usually a harmless little scam. You waste a few dollars, lose to a stuffed animal, and move on with your life. Live hamsters should never have entered the conversation.
That’s exactly why a game center in Shenzhen, China, has been getting dragged online after videos and photos showed live hamsters packed inside a claw machine at Yuekong City. South China Morning Post reported that the animals were seen cowering in the corner while customers tried to catch them, with clips also showing signs of stress from the loud environment and being chased with the metal claw. People accused the arcade of animal abuse, and it is hard to argue with them when the “prize” is a terrified creature getting scooped out of a vending machine for somebody’s date night content.
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What makes the whole thing even worse is that hamsters don’t do well with bright lights, crowds, noise, and random metal objects dropping from above. Oddity Central reported that experts pointed to the cramped machine and frequent claw contact as sources of severe stress reactions. SCMP also reported that when the shop closed during the Spring Festival holiday in February, no one was left in charge of feeding the hamsters. That detail alone is absolutely heartbreaking.
This Arcade Is Getting Dragged for Using Live Hamsters as Claw Machine Prizes
Then came the attempted fix, which somehow made the story dumber. After the backlash, the arcade removed the hamster machine and replaced it with machines containing live fish and small turtles. According to SCMP, a staff member said the shop was “not allowed to keep hamsters,” while lawyer Zhang Zi’ang said the business may have violated China’s Animal Epidemic Prevention Law if it lacked the proper permits for live animals. In other words, the issue may have been the licensing, not the fact that turning living creatures into arcade loot is grotesque in itself.
The larger problem is that China still doesn’t have a nationwide animal welfare law protecting small animals, farm animals, and pets from abuse, which is why people who called local hotlines were reportedly told there was little officials could do. That legal gap leaves plenty of room for businesses to treat animals like disposable props until public outrage forces a change. The arcade has reportedly removed all live animals now, but the fact that this got as far as it did says plenty.
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