Kennedy News and MediaA little boy has accidentally killed his pet goldfish by ‘just wanting to pet’ and cuddle it in bed.
Young Everett Hamlin, 4, had no idea that taking his best friend out of its tank to cuddle it would harm the fish, Nemo, in any way.
Instead, Everett just thought his fish would sleep soundly like he would, and he would be able to pop it back into its fish tank in the morning.
Kennedy News and MediaEverett’s mum Tori, 29, noticed Nemo was missing one morning and went into her son’s room to see if she could get to the bottom of its disappearance.
It was then that she made the heartbreaking discovery, as she spotted Nemo in her son’s hands – already dead. She then captured the moment on camera.
Tori woke the four-year-old up straightaway to break the news to him, and Everett was understandably devastated, saying he ‘just wanted to pet’ his best friend.
Tori, from Bonaire, Georgia, USA, said:
I was shocked at first, but then when he said he just wanted to pet it I was thinking, oh my god, that’s so sad. I didn’t think it was funny that he killed it.
He had no understanding of what he was doing. Honestly, I’m surprised he caught it. He’s got some good skills there.
Tori explained how she and her husband, Corey, had bought the fish for Everett when he was just a few months old.
She also emphasised how much Everett loved the goldfish, saying it had always been in his bedroom and that he loved looking at it. She also stated the young boy had never tried to take it out of its tank before that night.
Kennedy News and MediaThe 29-year-old continued:
I explained it to him again and he said, ‘that’s alright. We’ll have to get another fish and I won’t touch it. I’m only allowed to touch fish when I go fishing’. I said, ‘yep, that’s right’.
Everett has to do stuff like that to learn. Not every kid listens to their parent and learns from that. Sometimes they have to make mistakes to learn from them. It’s part of parenting and growing up.
And although Nemo met a tragic end, Tori emphasised the fish had lived a longer life than most goldfish; she even said they’d had it for so long that, despite the fish being orange when they bought it, the colour had faded by the time it died.
The family have now got some new goldfish for Everett, who plans to keep them inside their tanks this time round.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).