Please consider the following before purchasing a bunny as a gift or pet for children:
- Many people go to auctions or breeders, see the cute bunnies, and buy them on impulse without first learning about the realities of caring for them, ie. giving them attention, proper nutrition/feed every day, nail clipping, regular vet care, taking them to be spayed/neutered.
- If you would like a bunny for your family, please search Petfinder.com, or google for a local rescue specializing in rabbits. Google for Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue of RI, House Rabbit Connection in Mass., RI SPCA, or Mass. SPCA.
- Bunnies are a serious 10 plus year commitment. IF YOUR CHILD IS 8 YEARS OLD NOW, YOU WILL STILL HAVE THIS BUNNY WHEN YOUR CHILD GOES TO COLLEGE, with all of the care, feeding, and vet bills. Will your teenager still be interested in caring for this bunny?
- In most cases, the novelty of their cuteness wears off quickly, and children lose interest. The bunnies then end up neglected, at a shelter, or released into the wild where domestic rabbits cannot survive. In some instances they end up as snake food. Many times they end up leading a lonely and neglected life in a back yard or garage, and die.
Please don't be one of the people who buys a bunny and makes it live a lonely life in a hutch in a garage or in the backyard.
- A bunny takes a commitment equal to that of a cat or dog. In most cases, bunnies do not hold a families' interest after the first year (or even after a few weeks), ending up living a lonely life in an outdoor hutch or in a garage.
- Breeders continue to overbreed, considering their own interests only, and sell rabbits online or at fairs, and shelters and rescues cannot keep up.
- Adoption of a bunny in need of a home (who was probably purchased at a fair, from a breeder, or at a pet store) is a great lesson to teach your child. Buying from a breeder extends the problem. Breeders breed so many rabbits that rescues and shelter cannot keep up.
- If you would like a bunny for your family, please search Petfinder.com, or google for a local rescue specializing in rabbits.
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