Gift to children of real Easter bunny is not a good idea

Easter will be here on Sunday and many families might be considering purchasing a cute, fuzzy bunny for their children to cuddle and adore for the holiday.

But Tracy Martin, founder of the Web site, rabbitron.com, is on a quest to educate people about rabbit care and discourage people from buying them if they might not be willing to make a 10-year commitment to the animals.

“Real rabbits are not Easter toys,” one of her advertisements in a local newspaper explains.

She said that rabbits are the third-most populous animal in shelters.

She’s also spent her own money on billboards around town to discourage parents from buying the pets for the holiday.

It’s not that she doesn’t like rabbits. It’s just the opposite. Martin helps rescue rabbits no longer wanted year after year. She said problems start to grow a few months after the holiday, when the cute baby bunnies get bigger and start to hit their awkward teenage phase.

They can chew on furniture and start marking their territory. Many children like to pick them up, but rabbits – natural prey in the wilderness – can feel threatened and scared when they are held, especially by small children who probably aren’t holding them gently.

Rabbits tend to get aggressive when they haven’t been spayed or neutered, especially the females. Martin said that once a rabbit has been fixed, they tend to mellow out and are generally cleaner. Female rabbits are susceptible to uterine cancer if they haven’t been spayed.

Martin named her Web site after a rabbit she bought at a county fair back in the 1980s.

“I did every single thing wrong,” she said of her experiences with Rabbitron. “I still feel guilty about that today.”

She said that she kept Rabbitron in a hutch in her backyard. She didn’t interact with it much and fed her store-bought rabbit food, which she said is like feeding a rabbit McDonald’s every day.

“I’m telling people what I learned the hard way,” she said.

Martin said that the misconception about pet rabbits is they are good starter pets for children.

Not so, she said. Adults need to assume the responsibility of raising the rabbit. Rabbits can live to be 10 or 12 years old, about as long as a dog or a cat.

They need to interact with others, since they are social animals. Martin suggests setting up a pen inside the house for a rabbit to move about and be with the family.

“They don’t really like to be picked up,” Martin said.

She said that rabbits are very easy to litter-box train. The boxes should be filled with woodstove pellets – never cat litter, since it can be toxic to the rabbits – and the owner can add a little timothy or grass hay so the rabbit can munch while he does his business.

“They’re so not stinky,” she said.

They like to eat a lot of leafy greens such as kale, cilantro, romaine or bok choy. Rabbits have a sweet tooth, which is why they love carrots so much. Martin said she limits how much carrot her own rabbits eat to about an inch of carrot a day. They also love apples.

Within the city of Spokane, rabbits are considered household pets. Homeowners can have up to four household pets according to the municipal code.

In Spokane Valley, there are certain zoning districts where animals can be kept. Rabbits are considered poultry or livestock and anyone owning rabbits must live on a tract of land of at least 40,000 square feet. On those tracts of land, one rabbit can be kept per 3,000 square feet of land.

Martin and her husband, Max, care for around 30 rabbits as part of the River’s Wish Animal Sanctuary run by Kit Jagoda. Martin said that many of these rabbits have special needs, but the couple takes some of them on vacation with them. They have a special stroller for their fuzzy friends and the rabbits are great conversation starters.

River’s Wish Animal Sanctuary has been rescuing animals since 1995. They have rescued dogs, cats, horses and goats, but their primary focus is rabbit rescue. The rabbit sanctuary inside River’s Wish is called “Thumpqua,” a Spokane Indian term for the word “rabbit.”

Jagoda said the sanctuary has more than 100 spayed and neutered rabbits, many of which are feral. During a typical month, Jagoda could receive a dozen calls a month from individuals interested in dropping off their rabbits. That number increases every year about six months after Easter.

“Easter is not a happy day for rabbits,” Jagoda said.

They come from all over, some from other shelters, some from individuals who can no longer care for them.

“It’s just so frustrating when every year they are sold as these objects,” Jagoda said. She refused to mention them by name, but she said many pet stores often stock up on rabbits in the weeks before Easter.

Thumpqua adopts out many of the rabbits, and the families that take the bunnies must sign a contract promising to properly care for the pet.

There is an adoption fee of $50, or $90 for two rabbits who have bonded with each other. The fee covers spaying or neutering.

Both Martin and Jagoda said that rabbits should be indoor pets, not kept in a hutch in the backyard. The room they stay in should be rabbit-proofed: keep all houseplants and electrical cords out of bunny’s reach.

The two rabbit advocates also said that rabbits should never be set free in the wilderness to fend for themselves. Rabbits raised in captivity don’t know how to survive in the woods.

It’s a problem for chicks, ducklings and other small cute pets at local parks, too. Spokane Parks and Recreation recently sent out pleas to the community to discourage people from dumping these no-longer-wanted Easter pets at local parks and ponds.

It’s such a problem for the parks department that earlier this year, 40 domestic ducks were adopted out to rural homes after their population grew too large. The removal of these animals should help to improve the water quality of the ponds and rivers in the parks.