Easter is almost here, and pet stores are filling their windows with baby bunnies not yet ready to leave their mothers. They’re cute and bouncy and irresistible to a lot of people…I have a very hard time remaining professional while writing this category because this is an issue that affects me deeply. These babies are not finished weaning…they’re small and tender and a lot of them will DIE. If they don’t get sold in the store, they go back to the breeder…where do they go from there? Does anyone ever think about that? It’s not illegal to sell a rabbit for food or skin it for it’s fur. I’m sorry, but we need to think about these things and realize that they DO HAPPEN. Then there are the babies that do get purchased. I start getting phone calls within a month after every Easter from people with numerous circumstances concerning rabbits that need to go to the shelter. “I found it in my back yard, or at a park”, “It had 12 babies and I can’t find homes for them”, “I’m moving”, “It’s chewing on everything”, “It’s aggressive”, “someone in the house is allergic”…the list goes on, but I never hear anyone confess that they want to give it up simply because they lost interest…it’s a living creature for Christ sake! Once again, I’m sorry, but when I have to start turning people down because I have no more room for more UNWANTED bunnies, I can’t sleep nights. These calls come daily throughout the entire summer, they slow down in the winter, and pick up again the following Easter. The reason I know a lot of these excuses are bogus is because I try to offer my assistance with the rabbit so they can get to know it, I offer to help with training…I offer to help with anything that I can help with so they will keep the pet that they bought, but do you think anyone ever takes me up on that offer? There’s a simple solution to this problem. First, we need to stop buying animals from pet shops…it’s a terrible, inhumane business, and second, if you really do want a bunny…do some research about rabbit care FIRST. Talk to someone about rabbit care, and then decide if it’s something that you can commit to. I’ve been told that I’m a hard person to adopt from, but if you’ve done your homework, and if you can give a rabbit a comfortable home, then you will understand why I’m a hardass when you get to know your bunny, because you wouldn’t want anything less for him yourself.
Easter Bunnies: 3 Comments
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Eileen wrote,
As someone who also gets the phone calls of the after-Easter bunny, I just wanted to offer a word of thanks and support for what you do.
I adopted a discarded Easter bunny and he is the joy of my life. What his previous “family” didn’t care about, I cherish every day.
In my own line of work, I also try to help people through their problems, but there is every excuse in the book why whatever I say just won’t work. It won’t work because they’re not willing to try.
So, I salute you and hang in there.
Link | November 21st, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Jennifer wrote,
I got an easter bunny for my girl and would say I didn’t think she would need so much love and care. I thought I’d bring her in and she’d just hop around the house and be cute. The truth is yes she hops around the house and is very cute, but after much reseach I came to the conclusion these shops are selling these buns for all the wrong reasons and should stop selling them. I should have known better when they could not tell me what sex she was. Good thing for my Bun I’m a pet owner who understands when you get a pet it is a comment for the rest of their lives. I love my bunny and would never part with her, but I do think we as a public should make it clear we do not want to see baby bunnies in pet shop windows anymore. Most of them end up dead, homeless, locked in a cage 24 hours a day seven days a week or just poorly cared for.
Link | December 3rd, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Katie B wrote,
I agree, thats one of the main reasons I wanted rats, not rabbits.
The males are kept separate from the females, and generally have 6+ hours out side the cage, the males get more because they are in a more confined place, where there are no hazards…
What I don’t understand is why don’t people get animals because they want to love them, not because they want a novelty? Every time a new movie comes out, people either run out to get the animal, or grab their gun and kill it!
If people could take the time and get real research done, we wouldn’t have to rescue their castoffs!
And some breeders are careless! I breed fish, but just because I can’t sell some of them doesn’t give me the power to decide to kill any of them! just because I gave them to opportunity to breed, doesn’t mean I created them! So because their lives aren’t ours to begin with, what right do we have to take them!
Link | February 9th, 2008 at 7:01 pm