Lifetime commitment:
With daily care and attention, a rabbit can be a delightful companion animal throughout the seven to 10 years of its life.
Life saver:
If you are prepared to open your heart and home to a rabbit, consider adopting one to give it a precious second chance.
Love some bunny - for life
April 01, 2012
Thinking of buying a rabbit for your family or friend this Easter holiday? Know the answers to some key questions before making a hare-brained decision about a new companion animal.
Keeping a rabbit, or any other pet, is a lifetime commitment. That is why the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department urges people not to buy one on the spur of the moment, nor to treat them as gifts.
"Pets are for life. Think before you have one," the department’s senior veterinary officer Dr Mary Chow said in an interview with news.gov.hk.
Rabbits can be delightful companions, who are inquisitive, intelligent, sociable and affectionate. But keeping one entails serious responsibilities. Are you, or the recipient, prepared to care for a rabbit for the next seven to 10 years? That is the furry creature's average lifespan.
Sadly, many bunny buyers do not consider the consequences before their impulsive purchases. When the novelty wears off and reality sets in, they simply abandon them. From 2009 to 2011, the department received 198 abandoned or stray rabbits, Dr Chow said.
In some cases, their owners neglected to ask family members before bringing them home, and faced strong objection. Some discovered family members had allergies.
Responsible ownership
Do you understand rabbits’ daily needs? Some people mistakenly believe they are “low maintenance” pets that are easier to keep than dogs or cats. On the contrary, they have specific dietary and veterinary needs, and must be handled with care, not simply kept in a small cage and given water and carrots.
Joanna Chow, a committee member of the Hong Kong Rabbit Society which finds suitable homes for abandoned rabbits, notes these creatures mainly eat Timothy hay, and will have stomach trouble if they eat too many carrots. Rabbits’ teeth grow continuously throughout their lives, she says, so chewing hay also helps file them naturally.
Although they do not need to go outdoors for walks, as dogs do, they should not be kept inside a cage all day long. They have powerful hind legs designed for running and jumping, and must be allowed to run freely at least three to four hours a day.
Do you understand a rabbit’s habits? They have natural urges to chew and dig. Before setting a rabbit loose, you must rabbit-proof your home, covering all electrical wires and anything else the pet is likely to chew, and removing dangerous or valuable items. They need appropriate toys, such as cardboard boxes and commercially made chew sticks.
Rabbits can reproduce quickly. Do you know a female bunny can become pregnant as early as three months of age, and have as many as 10 litters a year? The AFCD strongly advises pet owners to have them desexed to prevent unwanted pets.
Adopt, don’t buy
If you understand the responsibility involved in caring for a rabbit and are prepared to commit to it, the AFCD encourages you to adopt one to save a life rather than buy.
After receiving abandoned or stray animals, the department's veterinarians give them health checks and assess their temperament. If they are deemed suitable, animals are sent to approved animal welfare organisations that will ensure they are desexed and will find them permanent loving homes. From 2009 to 2011, 50 rabbits were successfully adopted through its pets re-homing scheme.
Thirteen animal-welfare organisations participate in the scheme. Three of them - the
Hong Kong Rabbit Society,
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and
Society for Abandoned Animals - provide rabbit adoption service.
"Rabbits that were abandoned may lose trust in people and have a bad temper," said Jobi Kwan, Society for Abandoned Animals’ Project Co-ordinator, who participated in a recent Bunny Adoption Day with the AFCD and the two other rabbit re-homing groups.
She arranges times for potential new owners to spend with rabbits to see whether they get along, and urges applicants to seek approvals from all household members before bringing a rabbit home.
"These rabbits were abandoned once, we don't want them to be abandoned twice," she stressed.
Learn more about the pets re-homing scheme at the AFCD
website, or call the 1823 hotline.
