Preventing hare loss at Easter: Give a toy rabbit instead of a real one

If there's one thing about holidays that make animal shelter workers and humane society officials cringe, it's pet gifting.

Every year in the months following Christmas, animal shelters start filling up with dogs and cats that just a short while before were adorned with ribbons and bows and considered the hit of Christmas morning. Most shelters have a hard time dealing with the influx and end up euthanizing many of them.

Around Easter the same thing happens with rabbits, said bunny lover Connie Andrews.

"Most of the time they're (given) on impulse," she said. "So many people don't realize what it takes to keep a rabbit."

They're great pets, Andrews said, but they can cost more money to keep than people think and, left unnuetered, can become aggressive, territorial and overwhelming for a child.

Her advice is to buy a toy bunny instead of a live rabbit for Easter gifts.

The advice is the centerpiece of a campaign by Andrews, her sister Bonnie, and other rabbit adorers, to discourage giving live rabbits as holiday presents and raise awareness.

"Stuffed toy rabbits are a safer and more humane Easter gift for children," Andrews said.

Small children generally don't have the responsibility to take care of a rabbit, and they also often don't understand how weak a bunny's spine is before cuddling it to death.

Even Minden businessman Byron Waite, who modeled for the "Prevent Hare Loss" campaign poster, prefers his toy bunny over a live rabbit.

Andrews said working adults make the best bunny owners. They are "much more suited to (the) routine than a child," she said.

In past years, a Reno-area rabbit rescue center called Basically Bunnies had taken in unwanted or neglected rabbits, many of which were once Easter gifts.

But Basically Bunnies is no longer accepting rabbits, although they still have plenty to adopt out, as do most of Nevada's humane societies.

n Contact reporter Cory McConnell at cmcconnell@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.

Those Wascally Wabbits

For in-depth information on all manner of rabbits visit www.hopperhome.com

To adopt a rabbit from Basically Bunnies, call (775) 970-3507 or e-mail bunny2u@earthlink.net.