Next Sunday is Easter. That means a lot of folks will be tempted to buy a fluffy bunny for their children or grand children. This post hopes to convince at least some of these people to stop and become informed before buying that cute little fluffball.
After Easter each year, pet rescues and shelters are inundated with rejected rabbits. This seems cruel but it is not as cruel as just freeing the bunny into the outside world. I will be the first to admit that I do not know very much about rabbits having never had one as a pet that wasn’t a wild rabbit and these were really my wild friends in the yard that I insisted on feeding. However, I did some reading over the weekend and one thing I learned. Domestic rabbits are not equipped to survive in the wild and it is effectively a death sentence to just drop and abandon one.
I also learned that domestic rabbits are not a low maintenance pet. They must be spayed or neutered before adolescence or they will begin to chew, dig and spray. They must be kept indoors. They do not like to be held off the ground to be cuddled as a small child would do and in fact this act terrifies them. They must have a litter box and be trained to use it. They must be given adequate caging and diets. Baby bunnies are rather fragile and can be injured very easily by a enthusiastic child.
I would bet a dollar to a doughnut that most parents and grand parents do not think of these things before purchasing a rabbit for their begging offspring. I am well aware that it is hard to say no to a child in that situation. I know I have trouble doing it. But I have an advantage in that I love chocolate and I think most stuffed animals are just adorable.
So guide your little ones gently away from the purchase of the live, breathing, feeling animal that they can’t squeeze and visit the mounds of stuffed rabbits on sale at this time of year that have no problem with the squeezing, cuddling and dropping thing. Then buy them a nice basket filled with chocolate and candy bunnies plus eggs, peeps and jelly beans.
There will be far fewer tears and pain by avoiding a purchase of the living pet. At least there will be for the rabbit.
By the way, It is not a brilliant idea to buy a duckling or chick either. They are also living, breathing and feeling beings. I’m sure you can find stuffed and chocolate or candy replicas of them too.
HAPPY EASTER!
For more information about rabbits please visit http://www.rabbit.org or http://www.makeminechocolate.org.
