Cute little bunnies and fuzzy chicks become more popular at Easter time.  Children like cute baby animals, and parents may consider surprising their child with a baby bunny or chick at Easter.  Or you may walk into a pet store to get dog food and walk out with a rabbit.  However, what happens to these bunnies and chicks a month later?

Many of the bunnies and chicks purchased for Easter gifts end up abandoned or turned over to rescues.  Chicks grow up to be chickens, ducklings grow up to be ducks, and bunnies grow up to be rabbits, all of which carry a lifetime commitment to proper care and housing, for the next 5-10 years.

The Capital Area Humane Society, the Columbus House Rabbit Society, and the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue Group all see an influx of calls and abandoned or surrendered rabbits after Easter.  The novelty of the new cute, furry pet wears off and the burden of everyday care takes over.  These pets mature into adults over the next few months, and with that maturity comes behavior changes.

According to a story recently printed in the Columbus Dispatch, Capital Area Humane Society reported adopting out 70 rabbits last year.  The Columbus House Rabbit Society typically houses 15-20 rabbits at a time, with 10 currently in foster care, and the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue reported having 25-30 rabbits in foster homes.  That’s a lot of local rabbits needing homes!  These organizations receive more than 500 calls annually from owners needing to re-home their rabbits.

Unfortunately, some rabbit owners choose to just let their rabbit loose in the wild when they tire of caring for it.  By doing so, they are sentencing that rabbit to death.  Domestic rabbits have few survival skills and will die in the wild.  If they don’t die from starvation, they will fall prey to various predators.

Please think carefully before purchasing any pet for your child.  A pet is a lifetime commitment, and that pet could live 10+ years.  Are you ready to commit to housing that pet, feeding that pet, paying for bedding, food, veterinary care for the lifetime of the pet?  Early spaying and neutering (another expense) of rabbits can help with the hormone influx that comes about 4-6 months of age.

Rabbits in general do not like to be picked up and carried around a lot.  If not handled properly, they can easily injure themselves.  Rabbits are instinctively prey animals, and prefer to flee if they feel frightened.  However, they will fight to escape capture.  Rabbits who are afraid or don’t want to be picked up will bite and scratch.  Rabbits also don’t like being poked at, such as fingers through a cage.  They do, however, need exercise just like dogs and cats.  They need daily attention and exercise out of the cage.  Without it, behavior problems will develop.

So think twice before buying that cute bunny or fuzzy chick for your child for Easter.  Consider instead a stuffed toy, chocolate bunny, or marshmallow chicks for your child’s Easter basket.  Live animals should never be given as gifts.