Easter is just around the corner and this is the time that many youngsters have the urge to adopt a rabbit.

If that is the case, please give this some serious thought. Rabbits are great creatures and make wonderful pets but unlike a cat or a dog are high maintenance. A child may accept the idea of caring for a rabbit at first but the novelty quickly wears off and the chore of cleaning a cage daily usually falls onto the parent.

Rabbits should not be kept in a cage and need exercise. Otherwise it would be like living in a prison. A rabbit does not purr, nor does it fetch and frankly rabbits do not like being held. Before long a parent who has taken on the task of caring for a rabbit finds they are taking up a lot of their time and the rabbit, although it may be loved, is no longer wanted.

Many times the rabbit is taken out to a highway or a campus and dumped. This is a death sentence in more ways than one.

Please before you choose a rabbit for your child look into what it entails. Talk to other rabbit owners or the humane society. And if you have decided to adopt but find that you can no longer care for the creature then take it to a humane society.

Do not dump it. Rabbits want to be loved for who they are and not just as Easter toys.

William Jesse

Oak Bay