Make My Bunny Chocolate

A Rabbit Reality Check to Make You Think Twice About Giving a "Bunny Basket" This Easter

As Easter approaches, hearts and minds naturally turn toward springtime and all that it entails. During this enchanting season, many of us feel the impulse to give colorful Easter baskets brimming with surprises for children. Too often, one such "surprise" is a velvet-eared, live baby bunny, adorably nestled among green plastic grass and pastel chocolate eggs. While it is often tempting to give those cuddly little creatures as pets at Easter, Marie Mead cautions that people must educate themselves about the nature and needs of rabbits before taking the bunny plunge.

"Rabbits are very misunderstood animals," says Mead, creator of celebratingrabbits.com and author of the upcoming book Rabbits: Gentle Hearts, Valiant Spirits – Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph and Joy (Nova Maris Press, 2007). "They are extremely sensitive, intuitive and gentle creatures who require extensive attention and mature guardianship – something many people don't realize when they purchase a baby bunny. It's a very sad fact that most rabbits don't even enjoy a year of happiness with their new caretakers. Instead of living out their normal lifespan – eight to 12 years – they often die within the first year of life.

Many rabbits are injured or become ill due to improper handling and care and, as a result, either die painful deaths or are euthanized, Mead says. "Discarded bunnies overrun the animal shelters after Easter, resulting in many rabbits being euthanized due to space constraints and other factors," she says.

Equally discouraging, some people who decide their rabbits require too much attention simply abandon them in the wild, Mead says. "This means certain death for domesticated rabbits as they don't have the skills necessary to survive on their own," she says. "Many other rabbits are relegated to cramped outdoor hutches, where they languish alone and forgotten, their eyes losing all signs of joy and life."

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