Easter Bunnies

The BBQ Pit
1

Easter is coming up… and this means hundreds of baby rabbits will be bought for spoiled children. Many of these rabbits will later be abandoned in the wild (where they cannot survive) or surrendered to local humane societies. The rest will most likely be confined to a small cage (possibly with wire floors, which is VERY uncomfortable) and given only the food and water they need to survive. Some will be accidentally killed when dropped by small children who don’t understand that rabbits don’t like being held, scarring the child in the process.

Last year, I did my best to help by standing outside the mall pet store distributing flyers. Most people were very nice, some even thanked me for what I was doing. HOWEVER, one woman can burn in hell for her irresponsibility. This is what happened.

The woman and her approximately 5 year old son approach the baby bunnies on display with a big plastic Easter egg in the window.

Son: I want that one! No! I want that one!

I swoop out of my corner and hand the woman my best flyer, which says in big bold letters "He is not a child’s toy! He’s a ten-year commitment"

Me (very polite): Maam, would you like to read this?

Woman (looking annoyed): Uh…

The woman and son enter the store and leave with a baby bunny in tow. Complete with crappy “starter kit” that includes crappy products and very little info. These starter kits are devoid of hay, contain crappy food, pine shavings (which cause liver damage to any small animal), a cage that is way too small, and many products that are simply uneccessary like a mineral block and vitamin drops.

Worse yet, she gave the store employees my flyer! She didn’t even read it! And she gave me away!

How can I educate the public when people are so resitant to information? When they turn their backs instead of listening and learning?

How many times have I tried to offer little snippets of info, only to be ignored?
Another senario:

I’m in Petsmart with my friend who’s buying ferret supplies. Two females are discussing which rabbit cage to buy. They are looking at one with a wire floor.

Me: Are you looking for a good rabbit cage?

Woman: Yeah.

Me: You probably won’t want to get one with a wire floor. They can cause sore hocks which are very uncomfortable for the rabbit.

Woman: (distracted) Oh, yeah? Ok.

They purchase the cage with the wire floor.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!! What is wrong with people???

Anyways, if you can do anything to discourage impulse buying rabbits this Easter, please do. Talk your friends out of it. Tell them to wait until after the holiday and to look into adopting a rabbit from their local House Rabbit Society (ours has an adoption fee of $50, and the rabbits are already spayed and neutered, often they are litter-boxed trained. Financially, it’s a better option.) or other shelter. Make sure they know that a rabbit can live 8 to 10 years or longer. Perhaps they will change their mind, or better yet will give a lonely rabbit a forever home where they are well-cared for and loved.

2

Coulbean! I’m so impressed with what you’re doing! I owned rabbits through childhood and I can’t believe they even sell cages with wire bottoms for rabbit use. I mean, lazy people think there’s no other way to clean it up, if only they knew that rabbits basically only use one corner!

Of course, it’s not just rabbits… stupid parents will always be buying pets for young children that will only wind up unwanted and neglected once the novelty’s worn off (the pets, not the children :smiley: ).

I hear it’s just as bad buying chicks for kids, not even thinking that a chicken/rooster is NOT going to either cuddly or friendly…

You’re doing all you can, unfortunately any idiot can go purchase animals on a whim :frowning:

3

As far as the chicks for Easter are concerned… yeah… Chickens are far from cuddly. My grandpa used to raise poultry and hatched some eggs for us once. 3 chickens grew to maturity and none of them were friendly. At least they don’t dye them anymore. That’s REALLY digusting. They used sell chicks that were dyed pastel colors for Easter. Imagine the amount of people who bought these chicks and just let them die because they had NO idea what they were doing.

There is an organization around here that is staging protests against the big pet store chains. I need to find out who they are and get involved with them.

Thanks for the thanks. I just wish more people felt that way.

4

Well, For a change, I agree with the animal-rights people here! This practice IS disgusting. Stores REALLY need to provide the proper equipment and supplies, and moreover REQUIRE them with purchase. At bare minimum hay and food ought to come with bunny< one week’s supply > for those who’ll build the proper sort of hutch. House bunnies are Fun! take care of them!

5

I agree that people owning pets they don’t know how to care for is harmful but what is so appalling about the woman that ignored you and then gave your flyer to the employees? Firstly, there’s always the chance that the woman might have an idea of how to care for the animal or might eventually if she doesn’t currently and secondly, you were disrupting the store’s business.

I can understand your annoyance but it isn’t like she hit you or even swore at you. She just ignored you, like it seems everyone else does.

6

If the woman had known anything about rabbits, she wouldn’t have been buying one with the crappy starter kit at that store for her young son. She wasn’t just ignoring me, she was ignoring the organization that printed the flyers and valuable info contained in that flyer. In case your wondering, the flyer isn’t a strict reprimand against getting a rabbit. It’s designed to make you think about what you are doing first. You can find it here.

7

It’s a good thing you’re doing, Coulbean. Do rabbits get along OK with cats? I would consider adopting one if I knew it would get along with my other 10+ year commitments.

8

Probably because she wanted to go about her business without being bothered by strangers handing out flyers.

9

They’re shortsighted, ignorant and selfish. Never assume otherwise.

10

You know, I can totally side with your cause (especially regarding throwaway easter bunnies – that’s just ridiculous), but this particular conversation makes me think that maybe you just don’t come across as someone who should be listened to. Most people I’ve met who share your particular passion for educating people about how awful they’re being to animals tend to either come across as condescending know-it-alls or wacko zealots. If you seem like “Guy Hanging Around Pet Store Dying To Tell People Why They’re Selecting The Wrong Cage”, you might fit in either one of these categories. Watch out for that.

11

Good on you, coulbean!

Robin

12

Often rabbits do get along well with cats. But I wouldn’t leave them together unsupervised, cause you never know. Ideally, you’d want a large rabbit that the cat wouldn’t mistake for a toy. You can read more here.

I understand that I could come off that way, but I do try to be very polite. I didn’t continue to talk to her after she obviously wanted to end the short conversation. I much prefer it if someone asks me about rabbits, because I know they are willing to listen. But I must say, when I was still learning about rabbits, I purchased several products that were no good. I would have listened to someone if they had said “Hey, you really don’t want to waste your money on that honey-nut treat for your rabbit, in fact it’s not good for him at all.” I would have been grateful to have saved the money and not put my rabbit’s health in danger. Of course, I am of that mindset.
P.S. I would be the “Girl Hanging Around Pet Store Dying To Tell People Why They’re Selecting The Wrong Cage” :smiley:

13

This is a good thing, increasing awareness.
However, I thought fro the OP, it would be about someone who had been traiuatized by an adult wearing a Bunny costume.
:stuck_out_tongue:

14

When my sister and I were little, we got a pink-dyed bunny one Easter. He moved in with us at my grandmother’s house and was still kickin’ the cats’ butt years later when I left home for military service.

I know that’s an exception, and I agree with the OP’s position, but thought this thread could use at least one happy ending. :slight_smile:

15

That’s awesome. I have to admit that my first rabbit was a Valentine’s gift. It just goes to show you that it’s the person, not the situation that makes the difference. I was of the inclination to learn and care for my bunny, and adopted my second bunny. I guess that’s why I feel so strongly about it. If I can learn and change my atittude, why can’t everyone else? (And I’m an Aries, I tend to champion the underdog.)

16

Face it: people are stupid. Especially about rabbits, because they look like easy little rodents but are actually at least as much work and commitment as a cat. And god forbid anybody try to tell them otherwise, no matter how politely.

17

I think that you might be getting lumped in with people who don’t want ANY of us to have pets. I know that I’d probably avoid anyone hanging around a store passing out flyers. No offense, but people who do that are usually not the sort who will graciously accept the fact that I don’t like chatting with strangers about personal purchases.

Rabbits aren’t my cup of tea, but I don’t want to see them sold as disposable pets. I don’t want to see ANY animal sold as a disposable pet. All pets deserve to have someone care for them, love them, and make sure that they get what they need in the way of proper food, shelter, medical attention, whatever. I take very good care of my cats, and I make sure to read new information about cats whenever I come across it. I never buy cats from a store, but I will adopt them from the Humane Society. And I’ve switched doctors who’ve told me to get rid of my cats when I developed a slight sensitivity to them…I made a lifetime commitment to the cats, and I’m willing to be inconvenienced for them.

18

A quick story about Easter and Bunnies

Last year, a week after Easter, my son and his friends were playing in the woods near my home in way upstate NY, it being unusually warm. They had come back a hour later with a small brown bunny wrapped up in a jacket that they had caught. The first thing that comes to my mind is that it is either sick or someone’s Easter bunny that had been let go. Turns out that he was let go, because he was not sick. He had to stay in the dog carry cage until my wife could go to the pet store and get all of the needed bunny items, Cage with solid floor, food, water bottle, vitamins, hay, bunny treats, bedding, bunny harness and leash, etc. And Mr. Cocoa, he looks like a cocoa bean, is now living with us and 2 cats, 2 dogs, 4 rats, 7 hamsters and 1 mouse. During the summer we would let him hop in the back yard or have him in the front yard with the leash where he would go after the mint growing there. The cats got along well with him, but he was not let alone with the cats.

Bunnies are cute, bunnies are fun but bunnies can also bite so be careful with bunnies.

19

That’s exactly what I’m talking about! How irresponsible is it to release a domestic animal into the “wild”?! People think they can just release their bunny and it will just join its wild brethen and make baby bunnies and be happy, but domestic rabbits aren’t even the same species as wild rabbits (in the US anyway, not so in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe) The more realistic fate is that it will quickly become an easy meal for a predator or will die slowly of starvation.

Good for you for giving him a home! It’s nice to hear good stories like yours.

On the note on biting? Is Mr. Cocoa neutered? Often agression is simply a hormonal problem. (Spaying/neutering also makes a big difference in litter habits. And spaying is absolutely neccessary for females, as they have a huge risk of uterine cancer if they’re not.) Otherwise, he’s probably doing it out of fear. Sometimes, a bunny will nip to simply say “get out of my way!”

20

One of my younger sisters received a baby bunny (not dyed, alas! I have to ask, how long does the color stay? Not, like forever?) for a birthday one year. A month later my oldest sister got a kitten. The two grew up together and were like littermates. The cat learned to mimic the rabbit’s jump and they would hop, hop, hop around the front yard together like demented little pogo-sticks. Quite charming.

Coulbean, I’m of two minds about what you’re doing. On the one hand, I say good for you, it’s obviously something you feel strongly about so why shouldn’t you take action, etc. etc. And, presumably, by targeting the pet store, you’re reaching the exact group you need to.

But–

I imagine myself, kid in tow. I’ve already promised him a bunny, for whatever reason, and he’s all excited about it, and we’ve picked one out in the window and we’re headed inside and… Some zealot shoves a flyer in my face and interrupts the moment. So I politely humor her, go inside and the clerk helps me out and tells me all that I’ll need to get for the boy’s bunny and we leave, and she’s still out there giving me the evil eye. Grrrrr. [/imagine]

So I don’t know. I admire your message and all, but I also think you should thicken up your skin a bit if you plan to continue doing what you do. No one is obligated to read your flyer and see the light. Hopefully, as an owner they’ll gradually learn the proper care techniques. Sadly, many won’t and the bunnies will join the vast ranks of poorly cared for pets in our country. But that’s a whole rant unto itself, isn’t it?