Hopping to Help Bunnies Abandoned After Easter

Hopping to Help Bunnies Abandoned After Easter

New York City, shelters seek to reduce the number of pet rabbits that are dumped after the holiday

By Corinne Ramey in the Wall Street Journal

Easter has long been a boon to those who sell rabbits and the bane of animal shelters, which say they are left to deal with dumped bunnies after the cuteness fades and the creatures gnaw on every cord in sight.

Parents “want a baby bunny in a basket to give the kids on Easter morning,” said Anthony Pilny, national medical director of the House Rabbit Society, a Richmond, Calif.-based rabbit-advocacy group. “It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t thought through. You run into the problem of: What happens next?”

But this Easter is a notable one for New York’s rabbit business. The City Council in December voted to ban the sale of rabbits in pet stores, joining cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, which have made similar moves. New York City’s ban goes into effect in June.

“I’m really, really excited about it,” said Thea Harting, a NYC Metro Rabbits volunteer who was introducing lop-eared siblings Simba and Nala to potential new owners at the Union Square Petco at an adoption event last month.

“I’m hoping that it will reduce the number of abandoned rabbits in the city, especially ones in shelters or abandoned in the parks,” she said. “I’m also hoping that it will help stop people who shouldn’t have pet rabbits in the first place from getting them, especially around Easter.”

Rabbit advocates say Easter-basket bunnies often are dumped in parks, where they are ill-equipped to survive. Others end up in shelters, where they are adopted or euthanized.

In 2014, Animal Care & Control of NYC took in 431 rabbits, including ones purchased from pet shops, according to senior program manager Ellen Curtis.

The coming ban will prohibit the sale of bunnies in pet stores but permit adoptions through stores and shelters. Rabbits up for adoption have typically been spayed or neutered, while ones for sale may be able to breed like rabbits.

Those devoted to the rabbit cause are strong in New York, which has a network of volunteers who trap abandoned rabbits and work in shelters.

“We have adoptions and speed dating around the city,” said Mary Cotter, founder and president of Rabbit Rescue & Rehab. (The speed dating is to pair rabbits with each other because they can be picky about companions.)

The New York City newsletter “Thump” chronicles the lives of the city’s bunnies. The 20-page February edition included stories documenting a rabbit that behaves like a dog and a budding romance between bunny pals Grant and Divina.

“He knew his single days of running around the apartment, chasing whatever he could, were over,” Brian Rodriguez writes of Grant, a four-year-old Lionhead. “I guess that sort of thing happens to most guys.”

About 25% of rabbits are adopted and 14% are purchased at a pet store, according to the National Pet Owners Survey, which is administered by the American Pet Products Association, an industry group. Between the association’s 2011-12 and 2013-14 surveys, the number of rabbits purchased at pet stores declined by 42%.

Local bunny breeders said that the ban likely won’t hurt them, as most don’t sell to pet stores.

“I assume it would bring more people to buy privately,” said Carol Doukas, secretary of the Long Island Rabbit Breeders Association.

Calls to city pet stores found that most national chains, including Petco, no longer sell rabbits, but partner with local adoption groups. Most stores owned by Petland Discounts, which has 65 locations in the five boroughs, had between two and four rabbits in stock, at prices ranging from $50 to $70.

Employees said bunnies tend to hop off the shelves. “We sell a lot of them,” said Yvonne Neves, an employee at a Petland on Staten Island. “A lot of times people will buy them and bring them back after Easter. You have seven days, but if we don’t have the room we don’t take them back.”

Petland takes precautions against dumped bunnies, and, after the ban takes effect, it will no longer sell rabbits in city stores, said spokeswoman Amy Eisenberg. But the effect of the ban on the sale of cages and accessories remains to be seen.

“Hopefully people still want rabbits as pets, and they’ll just adopt more,” she said.

Regardless, the strong association between pet rabbits and the coming holiday is hard to break.

“It’s spring,” said Su Ruckdeschel, a rabbit breeder in Ronkonkoma on Long Island. “Everybody knows that the Easter Bunny is coming.”