We are possibly more Pagan than Christian, but we celebrate Easter in the cartoon bunny sense and Georgia has been thinking Easter for a month. She’s been plotting all of the ways we can dye eggs this year: onionskins for red-brown, spinach for green, blueberries for blue, etc. Since she’s into it, and since I am excited about this natural way to connect to the earth, we’ll do it. And I’ve already got the usual spring goodies [0], seed packets, sidewalk chalk, even some not-very-eco plastic sparkly toys, and, of course chocolate. But I wasn’t prepared for bunny talk.
Georgia: Mommy, when can I get a bunny?
Belinda: Hmm, I don’t think we’re going to get a rabbit. Rabbits aren’t very happy as pets.
Georgia: But they are sooo cuuuuute! Why can’t I have a bunny?
Belinda: Well, we have two cats, for one thing. And you want to get a dog. And little tiny bunny rabbits are adorable, but they need a lot of care, and they don’t like loud sounds and fast motions, I don’t think they are one of the animals that loves being held a lot.
Georgia: Hmph. When I am grown up I will have ten bunnies!
Her imagined future menagerie includes ten bunnies, eight horses, 100 cats, and five children. Some dogs too, and a kitten and a puppy. Even though I hope I am not raising a crazy cat lady, and I often tell her about why we chose to have just one child [0], I let her go off on these fantasies without discouragement. I’ve told her about how when I was a child all the cousins got baby bunnies one Easter. By the time they had grown, we were the only cousins that still had rabbits, the others having mysteriously vanished. Our rabbits turned out to be a perfect pair, gracing us with eight of the most adorable little bunny babies. I haven’t told her how one of the adults escaped from the hutch, never to be seen again, and how I have no idea what happened to all those bunny babies. I’ve told her how the rabbits bit, and how they weren’t cuddly, and how they were not fun pets, but I didn’t tell her how neglected they were once they were no longer cute and sweet little things. We didn’t pay any attention to them but to stick an old vegetable in their cage from time to time. I feel bad that they had such sad little bunny lives.
Which is my way of saying, please don’t get a child a cute little bunny for Easter. It turns out that LOTS of people think bunnies are the perfect Easter gift [1], but they end up filling the shelters a few months later when the novelty wears off. A rabbit is a ten-year investment, and it’s no good to quit on a pet, so if you really want a rabbit and know what it takes to be a good rabbit owner, why not adopt one of the rabbits at your local shelter [2]? An adult rabbit is soft and cute too, and doesn’t create a cruel market for spring bunnies. If a rabbit is the pet for you, check your shelter first for your Easter Bunny. But this is one case when I’d say opt for the desired plastic toy-of-the-moment and leave the bunny behind!
Photo credit: normanack [3]