NEW YORK, March 10 (UPI) -- Authorities in New York said a 19-year-old woman was arrested for killing a hamster belonging to her brother, whom she blamed for the death of her own hamster.

Investigators said Monique Smith, 19, who was arrested Tuesday, arrived at her family's apartment in June, discovered her hamster was dead and blamed her brother, Aaron, 25, for kicking the small animal's exercise ball, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.


Aaron Smith told the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Humane Law Enforcement Unit his sister retrieved his hamster and allegedly slammed it to the ground.

Monique "attempted to pull the hamster's whiskers out and then crushed the hamster with her hand" while her three younger siblings looked on, court papers said.

Monique Smith, who police said avoided authorities for several months, was charged with felony animal cruelty, misdemeanor animal cruelty and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She was jailed in lieu of $1,000 bond.