Easter a sad time for rabbits

Every Easter thousands of bunnies are bought by parents looking to surprise their little ones.

Maybe it’s to show them responsibility, maybe it’s because the child has been endlessly begging for a rabbit, or maybe it’s because baby bunnies are just so darn cute.

But are those good reasons to bring an animal into your life?

Shouldn’t it be because you want to provide a good home for them?

Shouldn’t it be about what they need and not what you want?

The sad fact is, most rabbits bought at Easter are surrendered to shelters (or abandoned) by families after the novelty wears off. Think that won’t happen to you?

Think you’ll be the exception to the rule?

Maybe (hopefully) you will be, but before considering bringing a rabbit into your life — and we suggest adopting a homeless rabbit, not buying one bred for human profit — the New Jersey House Rabbit Society asks parents to consider the following:

Are you prepared to commit to this rabbit for up to 10 years, the average life span of a domestic rabbit?

Are you willing to learn all about rabbits, such as how to rabbit-proof their living quarters, the special medical needs of rabbits, and the foods they need to live a long and healthy life?

Will you be willing to spay or neuter your rabbit?

Have you ever experienced the joy for life that a free-roaming rabbit exhibits when running through a room and leaping and spinning in the air?

Have you ever seen a rabbit flop over on her side in total bliss?

These are behaviors a rabbit sentenced to life in a cage never gets to experience.

Many people are led to believe you can get a rabbit, buy a cage, water bottle and pellets and that’s all they need.

"They’ll do just fine," you are told at the pet shop.

Well, we’d like to tell you they don’t do just fine.

Continuous caging is cruel and no longer advocated, and pellets are really for the convenience of the human, not the nutritional well-being of the rabbit.

So if your child is begging, teach her (or him) a wonderful lesson.

Buy the child a stuffed rabbit toy for Easter and then make it a family project to learn all you can about rabbits.

Once you feel you are ready, contact N.J. House Rabbit Society at (732) 583-0278 to learn about adopting and giving a homeless rabbit a brighter future.

Shelley Stack

Chapter manager, N.J. House Rabbit Society

Matawan