A live hamster was found in the back of a rubbish truck, moments before it was about to be crushed.

One Tuesday morning in West Norwood, a bin man discovered a cage that had been dumped in an industrial bin, with a hamster still in it.

The bin man promptly took the creature to the local RSPCA charity shop, South East London Branch, where it was looked after by Deborah Thompson, 57.

“I’d just opened the shop and one of our bin men came in carrying a cage that he had found,” she said. “The cage had been put inside an industrial rubbish bin, and he noticed that when they tipped it out they saw a cage come out.

“Luckily enough he saw something moving, so before it went through the crusher he quickly whipped it out.

“I cleaned the cage out, because it was a bit of a mess, and then quickly ran to the pet shop and bought some clean straw and food.

“Her face was tiny, but within two minutes of being back in the cage her cheeks were huge, so god knows when the last time she had been fed.”

Shortly after Deborah had cleaned and fed the hamster, a RSPCA inspector arrived and took the hamster to the Putney RSPCA Animal Hospital where her health was checked out by professionals.

It is believed that the RSPCA inspector fell in love with the little pet, and once she had been checked out, was taken home.

We may be outraged by this mistreatment of a pet, but it happens more often than you might think, as Deborah explains:

“Lots of these types of things happen, because [the bin man] was saying that a few weeks before someone had put a piglet in an industrial bin, alive. It’s disgusting. But, it happens so much.”

However, the RSPCA try to do all they can to help neglected animals.

Deborah added: “Someone left a box on the shop floor, which we thought was a donation but no, it had 8 rabbits in it.

“We’ve had rabbits, somebody brought a cat in, and somebody caught a little song bird that was just flying around locally.

“We keep saying, ‘all we need is a dog now’!”

If you see an animal being mistreated or neglected, or if you would like to adopt a rescued pet, please contact the RSPCA immediately: 0300 123 4999.