This Easter morning I am reminded of something grim. And I would like to bring it to everyone else’s attention as well. Easter bunnies — those cute furry animals that every kid asks for on this day. And I don’t mean the chocolate or stuffed variety. I mean those Petland Discount live bunnies, bred on farms and sold to unsuspecting families to delight their kids with the “real” Easter Bunny.

introducing my Chelsea — a gray bunny from the Manhattan Animal Care and Control, and fostered by me for the NYC chapter of the House Rabbit Society. She is so named for the neighborhood in which she was found wandering, thanlkfully before she was flattened to death by a car, or starved to death, or killed by a dog, cat, raccoon, human or other predator. Undoubtedly dumped bv some ignoramus who bought her for her cuteness, maybe at a pet store advertising “Easter bunnies for sale”, she was deemed to be too high maintenance or a bother. House rabbits can live ten or more years. Dumped on the street, they are lucky to live a day. They can become members of the family. My Chelsea has a huge dog crate, but can come and go as she pleases around the apartment. I painstakingly covered all the electrical cords, so wouldn’t chew them and suffer shock, or cut off my phone, computer, and/or any other device I depend on.

Bunnies are wonderful apartment pets, if you “bunny-proof” (and the House Rabbit Society volunteers will help you do that, when you adopt a shelter rabbit). Rabbits are quiet so they don’t disturb the neighbors. And rabbits are active in early morning and evening. So if you work, your furry friend will probably sleep through your workday and be up to greet you when you come home — my first rabbit, Penny, would come right to the door like a dog. Oh, and they can be litter-trained. My Chelsea does her business in a cat box lined with newspaper and then filled with timothy hay.

But a pet rabbit requires love, attention, socializing (Chelsea loves to be kissed and massaged), and some work. And, contrary to their image, rabbits are not a good starter pet for children, who can be too rough with a sensitive animal like a bunny, and may not let her get her beauty rest in the middle of the day — actually this mid-afternoon napping comes from the wild. The majority of a rabbit’s predators are out in the sunny part of the day, so the rabbits slip into their warrens from mid-morning until dusk to remain out of harm’s way.

The sad truth is that ACC, and other animal shelters, are overrun with rabbits dumped by former owners who didn’t realize that they would have to take care of these symbols of easter. Or, having bought the bunny in babyhood, are unaware that a rabbit goes through a stormy adolescence at about 3-6 months, where he can become rambunctious and a little less cuddly, looking instead to matters of sex and lewd fun, not unlike his human counterparts. This is the time to spay or neuter your bunny, to calm those hormonal impulses. But when the bunny was exchanged for cash at the pet store, nobody bothered to educate the new pet owner. Either the pet store employee doesn’t know jack about the bunny he just sold, or doesn’t give a bunny’s ass how, or to whom he sold the animal.

So, this Easter, I am imploring all readers — either make it chocolate or stuffed. But if you are committed, perhaps for many years to come, to make a bunny-rabbit a part of your life, walk past the sign at Petland and go to the House Rabbit Society of New York’s website http://www.rabbitcare,org and find out about adopting a shelter bunny. And here in Manhattan, you can go to Petco in Union Square on any Saturday afternoon, and say

“hi” to my friend Cindy Stutts and her cohorts from Rabbit Rescue and Rehab aka the NYC chapter of the House Rabbit Society of NYC, and meet up close and personal, rabbits like my Chelsea, from Manhattan ACC. The rabbits are available for adoption or, at the very least, a rub on the head or a bunny massage like my Chelsea loves.

If you stop by the Union Square Petco on a Saturday, tell the bunny-rescue people that Fern from Metblogs sent you.

And this Easter — MAKE MINE CHOCOLATE!!!!

Related posts:

1. I Can’t Quit You, Easter Bunny
2. Diane, I’m holding in my hand a small box of chocolate bunnies
3. Easter, Schmeester
4. Happy Easter — Passover in April– Students Get Split Break!
5. Homeland Security at Greenmarket — Do I feel dumb!!!!