A Pennsylvania student traveling home to Florida flushed her emotional support hamster down the toilet at the airport in Baltimore, according to a report in the Miami Herald.

Belen Aldecosea, 21, of Miami Beach, bought her dwarf hamster, Pebbles, at a Pennsylvania Petco after a being shaken by a cancer scare. She dropped out of Wilson College in Chambersburg and was flying home to Fort Lauderdale from Baltimore–Washington International Airport on November 21 to have a growth removed, according to the Miami Herald.

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Aldescosea said she called Spirit Airlines to confirm that she would be able to fly with the hamster, but when she arrived at the airport was told that she would not be able to take Pebbles with her.

She says an airline representative suggested flushing Pebbles down an airport toilet, a direction that Spirit denies.

Aldecosea said she unsuccessfully tried renting a car and agonized for hours before doing the unthinkable. But she finally made the decision to flush Pebbles down the toilet.

“She was scared. I was scared. It was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet,” Aldecosea told the Miami Herald. “I was emotional. I was crying. I sat there for a good 10 minutes crying in the stall.”

Aldecosea, who now attends Texas State University, is considering suing Spirit Airlines over the conflicting instructions. Spirit does acknowledge that a reservation representative incorrectly informed her that she would be allowed to fly with the hamster.

Read the full story at miamiherald.com