Make Mine (Vegan) Chocolate this Easter: Rabbits Are Not Toys!

By Published On: 2 April 2014Last Updated: 17 January 2017

Do rabbits a favor this Easter and encourage friends and family to fill their baskets with (vegan) chocolate bunnies and to leave rabbit rescuing to those ready to give it a 10+ year commitment.

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EasterBunny

In most cases, using live rabbits or chicks in photo ops around Easter is speciesist. That’s a condensed way of saying that using animals whimsically for even minor and fleeting enjoyment, with no consideration of the needs and desires of the animal, is wrong.

If you take a rabbit home as a cute Easter toy, you’re speciesist AND recklessly irresponsible…and perhaps proud of remaining ignorant when a quick web search would tell you the following:

  • Rabbits require work, much like having a dog. There is litter box training and bunny-proofing so that they don’t chew cords and such to think about.
  • Some rabbits are cuddly. Many aren’t.
  • Rabbits feel secure on the ground and don’t really like to be held or restrained.
  • They need to be spayed or neutered to be healthy.
  • They require specific healthy diets to be happy rabbits.

I have raised four rescue rabbits into old age (10+ years) and they all have had different personalities, likes/dislikes, and abilities to manage kids. We have limited photos of them because their inherent curiosity keeps them hopping about, and their natural desire for personal space keeps us at a distance when they prefer it.

Rabbits are excellent companions when people consider the fit for the household. Like a dog or cat, they can roam a safe space and delight you with their individuality and quirks, but they can’t do it while stuffed in a cage or hutch after the Easter novelty wears off.

Do rabbits a favor this Easter and encourage friends and family to fill their baskets with (vegan) chocolate bunnies and to leave rabbit rescuing to those ready to give them a 10+ year commitment.

For more, check out What You Should Know Before Bringing Home an Easter Bunny.

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One Comment

  1. Linden April 3, 2014 at 11:23 pm - Reply

    Hi — I agree completely with this post. One of my oldest friends adopted a rabbit as a pet at her daughter’s request and proceeded to create an entire landscape/garden area for this new member of their family (named “Pippin”!). When it came time to sell her home, she had much to do to “fix” her home — including cleaning up after the free-flying (and gnawing) cockatiels AND the divets, burrowings and general disorder of the garden that was allowed for Pippin … If you are going to have a rabbit for a pet, then be sure you can give him or her the life it is mostly suited for.

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HELLO! I'm KD Angle-Traegner.

Writer, activist, and founder of Four Urban Paws Sanctuary. I’m on a mission to help people live a vegan life. Read more about KD…

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