The "Easter" Bunny
The “Easter” Bunny
When we celebrate Easter, many of us give gifts to our loved ones, but why a bunny on Easter? Where did the idea come from?
Taken from Wikipedia, The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a fantasy character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the Easter Hare originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour at the start of the season of Eastertide. The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Santa Claus, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday. The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) in 1682 referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs for the children. In many church services on Easter Sunday, a live rabbit representing the Easter Bunny, is brought into the congregation, especially for the children's message.
As you can see, the idea does have some good and seemingly innocent intentions. Over the years however, the celebration of Easter brought with it the idea of giving an actual bunny as a gift.
Again there are innocent and love filled intentions with the gesture, but there are several downsides as well.
Generally with all gifts, the novelty of it wears off very quickly. In most cases, you would share the extra candy, put the toys away, give to someone else or throw away.
For a bunny though, once the novelty of the holiday is gone, so is the interest. But what do most people do then with those “Easter” bunnies?
Starting a couple weeks after Easter shelters, rescues and even ads in papers get flooded with people looking to give these bunnies away. Some people even let them go in the wild! Any domestic animal cannot survive long term in the wild, which goes for bunnies too.
Many of these shelters and rescues cannot keep up with the surge of incoming bunnies, and some places simply cannot take these bunnies in.
Many times these bunnies get euthanized.
Please think about this before giving a bunny as a gift. Bunnies, like any other animal, deserves to be more than just a novelty.
Here is a personal story of a former “Easter” bunny.
Last year we received a call from a shelter looking to find a foster for a bunny that was dumped in the wild. This little bunny was dumped a few weeks after Easter was over. The shelter was already overwhelmed with the influx of bunnies being dropped off.
The shelters were at over capacity and either needed fosters or they would have to euthanize these bunnies.
We got a call from one of these shelters looking for help. We were reluctant to take any bunny as that was not something we started out to do as an organization. With all the surrounding shelters, rescues and fosters overwhelmed we decided to take this bunny in.
He was the typical “Easter” bunny… all white and small. He was about 6 months old, just a baby!
We had our foster take the bunny for us, and went to the vet to get the bunny neutered. To our surprise the bunny was a girl!
After the bunny was spayed, she came to stay with us to rest and recover.
When I saw her instantly bonded with her. She was so shy but happy to know that she had a home that was not going to grow tired of her.
She became my forever “Easter” bunny, and her name is Pete!
When we celebrate Easter, many of us give gifts to our loved ones, but why a bunny on Easter? Where did the idea come from?
Taken from Wikipedia, The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a fantasy character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the Easter Hare originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour at the start of the season of Eastertide. The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Santa Claus, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday. The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) in 1682 referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs for the children. In many church services on Easter Sunday, a live rabbit representing the Easter Bunny, is brought into the congregation, especially for the children's message.
As you can see, the idea does have some good and seemingly innocent intentions. Over the years however, the celebration of Easter brought with it the idea of giving an actual bunny as a gift.
Again there are innocent and love filled intentions with the gesture, but there are several downsides as well.
Generally with all gifts, the novelty of it wears off very quickly. In most cases, you would share the extra candy, put the toys away, give to someone else or throw away.
For a bunny though, once the novelty of the holiday is gone, so is the interest. But what do most people do then with those “Easter” bunnies?
Starting a couple weeks after Easter shelters, rescues and even ads in papers get flooded with people looking to give these bunnies away. Some people even let them go in the wild! Any domestic animal cannot survive long term in the wild, which goes for bunnies too.
Many of these shelters and rescues cannot keep up with the surge of incoming bunnies, and some places simply cannot take these bunnies in.
Many times these bunnies get euthanized.
Please think about this before giving a bunny as a gift. Bunnies, like any other animal, deserves to be more than just a novelty.
Here is a personal story of a former “Easter” bunny.
Last year we received a call from a shelter looking to find a foster for a bunny that was dumped in the wild. This little bunny was dumped a few weeks after Easter was over. The shelter was already overwhelmed with the influx of bunnies being dropped off.
The shelters were at over capacity and either needed fosters or they would have to euthanize these bunnies.
We got a call from one of these shelters looking for help. We were reluctant to take any bunny as that was not something we started out to do as an organization. With all the surrounding shelters, rescues and fosters overwhelmed we decided to take this bunny in.
He was the typical “Easter” bunny… all white and small. He was about 6 months old, just a baby!
We had our foster take the bunny for us, and went to the vet to get the bunny neutered. To our surprise the bunny was a girl!
After the bunny was spayed, she came to stay with us to rest and recover.
When I saw her instantly bonded with her. She was so shy but happy to know that she had a home that was not going to grow tired of her.
She became my forever “Easter” bunny, and her name is Pete!
