*sigh*

[Colby and the Dwarfs]

Well, it's that time of year again. Everyone's getting their kids rabbits, ducklings, and chicks.

I overheard an 11 year old saying this to her friend,

"Did you get any baby animals? My dad went to Tractor Supply and got 8 ducklings, and 10 baby chickens. And he hid them around the yard and we had to find them! Then we went to a different Tractor Supply cause my brother wanted zebra chickens. And we both got 2 bunnies! They're so cute!!! I'm gonna be sad when we have to get rid of them though."

"What are you going to do them?"

"Well the ducklings we'll let go into the pond. Idk bout the others though."


I was mad! I don't know the girl though, so I didn't say anything. It just makes me sick! These girls, unless they're traveling, are in the city. What is she going to do with 4 full grown rabbits, 8 ducks, and 10 chickens? Let the ducks go apparently . Anyway, it's just so sad, isn't it?


2 of chickens, Reese and Twix, had chicks hatch on Easter. I don't even want to think....I just can't even.....their sweet little faces, they deserve a loving home forever, which they will get, unlike so many chicks just as deserving.

My rabbit, M, was being sold around Easter. Kids were surrounding him and his sibs and cousins. I could hear the, "Oh can we PLEASE get one Daddy?" and, "Look how tiny they are! I bet they're minis! We could get 2 and have baby mini bunnies!!!"

Well, that girl had a good reason to believe they were minis. The sign next to them read,"Mini Bunnies! Will stay small! Great Easter gifts! Rare colours!"

Well, I bought one of those, "MINI BUNNIES", feeling sorry for him, as he was obviously too young to leave his mother. Here he is now:




Not so mini, huh?


Anyway, sorry for the rant, but it's just so sad how thousands of people buy rabbits, ducklings, and bunnies this time of year, just to "let them go later". Agree?

[BrainGirl]

That is so sad I haven't seen anyone advertising baby animals for sale for Easter in ages and I think major advertising campaigns by animal welfare groups have a lot to do with that! Here's this year's article if you want to have a read: Rabbits make for bad Easter gifts: BC SPCA - Victoria News

[Colby and the Dwarfs]

Originally Posted by BrainGirl

That is so sad I haven't seen anyone advertising baby animals for sale for Easter in ages and I think major advertising campaigns by animal welfare groups have a lot to do with that! Here's this year's article if you want to have a read: Rabbits make for bad Easter gifts: BC SPCA - Victoria News

Isn't it? People all over here buy them. Our shelter only cares about dogs(they only adopt out Syrians in pairs!) and are clueless about everything else.

I read the article, I totally agree! Get your kid chocolate for Easter!

[Melainia]

I wish I had had parents that paid a bit more attention to the care I gave to the pets I wanted when I was little. I have a pretty hefty amount of guilt for all the pets I thought I couldn't do without which turned out to be nothing like I expected, and it turned out I was not responsible enough to have them, but my parent's solution to this was always to just take them to the Humane Society for me. If I ever have children, they will learn the value of animal's lives, and what it means to care for them before I ever even consider thinking about getting them a pet. They will also be expected to do an in depth research project detailing what that animal needs and how they will meet those needs. There will be no impulse buying of living things. I fact I often wish there was a kind of pet store which only had one of some types of pets in very good habitats, which customers could come to and learn about pets and interact with them with responsible supervision, and then spend the time while their chosen pet is on order to prepare and attend classes/ training on how to care for them. Or learn about the pet and then source a rescue pet when they have completed the preparations and classes. I (and a few of my poor childhood pets) would have greatly benefited if this is how pet stores were. Sorry for such a long post!

[SinNyx]

That really is sad...I was supposed to pick up a dwarf from someone not long ago which they gave to a friend without telling me, then they were saying how they really wanted to get a friend for their 6 month old Syrian...needless to say, I had a rant about how it's a bad idea then she agreed not to, it was lucky I followed up asking about the dwarf for that reason.

I hate things like this though, it upsets me. I saw someone selling a lab puppy for £2, 500 the other day just for it's green eyes...which just mean it has 2 recessive copies of a certain gene.

I have seen so many rabbits lately, even people selling male and females together and putting a wink face in their ad to hint. I have only owned 2 rabbits. The last was just random, we stumbled across a farm selling baby rabbits and he was in a cage alone, shaking. I don't have him as a 'family' member decided to give him away with me not knowing anything, but I hope he is safe and still alive and well.

*calm*

[HollyHamster]

At least they don't dye the chicks and ducklings a myriad of pastel colors like they used to, which has since been banned here in the US, and I imagine its the same in the UK, for obvious reasons.

I would love to have chicks, and even had a dream last night that I bought some fertilized chicken eggs and had 6 lovely yellow chicks hatch from them. In the dream, I had several chickens all pass so I wanted to restart the flock with fresh chicks. I even had a coop in my yard for them to live in when they got bigger. XD

However, that was just in my dream, and not in the real world. I would never dream of buying chicks right now due to not having the proper space for them, and it being against the HOA to house poultry animals on the property. If we lived in the country somewhere, maybe.

[humfry]

Very sad. It's the old "A Dog is not just for Christmas" scenario.

[Colby and the Dwarfs]

Today I overheard the girl again, she said here exact words,

"...and by the time I saw her the chick was barely alive! So I got the chick out of the cats mouth and we poked it to see if it'd move but it was dead. Oh well! It was funny though. And my cat got a treat!"

I wanted to strangle her. Any ways, it's so, so sad.

[humfry]

I hope she has nightmares where she is attacked by a monster chicken! Nasty uncaring excuse for a human being.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Thats horrible! Bet she'd not be laughing if her cat (or sibling/parent e.t.c) got caught and killed by a bear or something... Cruel kid