Rabbit Awareness
Click to viewI feel very strongly about this. I know that rabbits aren't the only animal this happens with, but especially this time of year it happens WAY too much with bunnies. In two weeks from now, the animal shelters will be inundated with rabbits that people have bought for their children for Easter. Not that they mean to do this, of course, but most people are woefully uninformed when it comes to rabbits.
Rabbits are adorable and loving animals, but they aren't like hamsters; they require a lot more specialized care that most people have no idea about, so when it turns out that the new bunny is much more work and more of a pain than they had expected, or messier, or noisier, or whatever, they take the poor things to the shelter, where many of them end up put down.
I'll even admit that when I got my first bunny, I was misguided in what I thought I knew about them. But as I got to know Phantom and did research about rabbits in general I found myself falling in love with the critters more and more, which lead to me eventually having the five that I have now. I wouldn't trade them for anything, but they definitely aren't a great pet for small children, or a "starter pet".
tl;dr? BUY YOUR KIDS CHOCOLATE BUNNIES FOR EASTER INSTEAD.
And now I'll get off my soap box again.