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Educating idiots

sparklefairy

Wise Old Thumper
I often wonder what goes through their heads and why they think it's OK to see a little life as nothing more than a disposable gift or " thing,"
We've heard the story a thousand times before, child wants a cute bunny, stamps foot, begs with parents and eventually parents give in and buy cute little bunny. Little bunny grows up, becomes hormonal smelly scratchy and bitey child looses interest :cry:

The other day I was in pets at home to get some emergency hay, normally I wouldn't go in there but what I thought was a full bag of hay was actually a bag of rubbish :oops:. I stood there looking at the tiny bunnies and over heard a parent and child " Daddy I want it," says the child " maybe for Easter," says the dad looking at mum for approval. Mum says " yeah might as well, they don't live that long anyway and will be dead before he gets bored with it," :shock::shock::shock: I pipe up and say " I have a bunny at home who is 9 years old and still going strong so you may have bunny a lot longer than you think," parents faces are like :shock::shock::shock: mother turns to child and says " you're getting an egg," :lol::lol::lol::thumb:
 
:lol::lol: great! Though education a true idiot would be harder lol. Great stuff. I was so tempted to say something in my local pet shop who always have this little hutch on display with a stuffed rabbit in. I think I will take some info in them with guidelines for bunny accomodation.
 
I think so many people think buns have the same lifespan as a gerbil or a hamster :shock:

I was waiting at the vets and a ladt saw Pebbles and her husband asked how long to buns live for..so I said up to 12 years....he looked totally shocked! They were even more shocked when I said I had 4 house buns!
 
It makes me so sad every time I go into Companion Care based in P@H as they have all the hutches outside...way too small. The smallest advertised as accomodating two piggies :shock: :evil::censored:

I wonder if I'd get in trouble handing out MMC leaflets/Posters outside P@H as people go in?
 
a long time ago I was arrested for handing out leaflets dressed as a rabbit whilst standing outside pets at home. The police couldn't take it seriously and just let me go in the end :lol:
 
What an attitude to show towards an intelligent animal like a rabbit :(

ETA: (Sorry had to hit post Ludo was thumping he wanted his pellets), if only people could see the intelligence and potential that was dormant in their hutched bottom-of-garden- bunnies I'm sure they'd change their ways. It's usually ignorance not cruelty.
 
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I really wish I had the confidence to say something in those kind of situations (not that they arise very often as I only go to P@H in real emergencies). I think I'm just too scared of confrontation should the other person take it the wrong way :oops:
 
What an attitude to show towards an intelligent animal like a rabbit :(

ETA: (Sorry had to hit post Ludo was thumping he wanted his pellets), if only people could see the intelligence and potential that was dormant in their hutched bottom-of-garden- bunnies I'm sure they'd change their ways. It's usually ignorance not cruelty.

yes I agree that a lot of it is ignorance, because " we have always done it this way it must be ok," the sad thing is that a lot of people don't like change and hate to be told that everything that they believed to be right is wrong.
 
a long time ago I was arrested for handing out leaflets dressed as a rabbit whilst standing outside pets at home. The police couldn't take it seriously and just let me go in the end :lol:

:shock: Wow, way to go.:thumb:

When I was in Oz and went to Melbourne for the first time I stayed with my half sister. They had a gorgeous black bunny, thankfully well loved but they were clueless. Thought bunnies only lived for 1 or 2 years and there was no hay. On my 2nd last day there I found a huge pet store and got hay for the bunny and other suitable food and told her how important hay is.
 
:shock: Wow, way to go.:thumb:

When I was in Oz and went to Melbourne for the first time I stayed with my half sister. They had a gorgeous black bunny, thankfully well loved but they were clueless. Thought bunnies only lived for 1 or 2 years and there was no hay. On my 2nd last day there I found a huge pet store and got hay for the bunny and other suitable food and told her how important hay is.

I was quite the little rebel :oops: unfortunately having a child has turned me into a wimp as far as those sorts of things go :cry:

We can only try our best to educate people. A friend of a friend had bunnies as a child and wanted more. she came to me for advice but as it wasn't what she was used to hearing or what she did all those years ago I was " wrong," :(
 
well done!!

I have a now-ex friend as I was "wrong" when I pointed out that getting a rabbit and two guinea pigs living together in her garden whilst she was being a childminder at home for a dozen rowdy little kids plus yappy puppy was a bad idea. But she had bunnies and guineas together as a kid so it was "fine" of course...glad I pulled out of that friendship as she also keeps letting her poor cat have kittens, doesn't want to spay. *head desk*
 
a long time ago I was arrested for handing out leaflets dressed as a rabbit whilst standing outside pets at home. The police couldn't take it seriously and just let me go in the end :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: I actually woke up Teddy laughing at this! :lol: :lol:
 
I'm normally too scared to outright say something but I'll either say to whoever is with me "oh aren't they cute, wish they weren't so difficult to care for/expensive/get ill easily" or if the people seem nice I'll jokingly say "haha I wish they were cheap, mine cost me £..... this month already" or something so it seems nice and jokey while still putting people off impluse buying
 
I think so many people think buns have the same lifespan as a gerbil or a hamster :shock:

I was waiting at the vets and a ladt saw Pebbles and her husband asked how long to buns live for..so I said up to 12 years....he looked totally shocked! They were even more shocked when I said I had 4 house buns!

This!! And they think a hamster only lives a year, too. :censored:
 
My parents actually think the same thing, that rabbits have a short lifespan, and when I was a little kid I used to think so to because of them. However, now I'm the proud owner of two buns and I've done my own research on rabbits, and I know it's not so. I've actually heard that there was a rabbit that lived for 18 years, and that bun holds the record for the longest a rabbit has lived for.
 
I work in the community and occasionally see rabbits and guinea pigs at people's homes. I find it so hard not to say anything, for example last night they had a gorgeous mini lop in a hutch, which needed a good clean in the bottom but there was hay in the bedroom, but it was a small two tiered hutch. Living on his own and bought for a grandchild. When I went to see him, he scooted off to his bedroom, so guessing he hasn't been handled much.

They did have a small run but not attached to the hutch, but he was inside a little cover so was protected from the weather. He is obviously looked after but not too my standards. A lot of the time it's ignorance rather than nastiness but even so he's on my mind but there must be hundreds like him not far from where I am sitting but most of the time not noticed as they are in a garden behind fencing and walls.

Pet shops could do so much to change the way people look after their small furries but it's all comes down to money for the vast majority of them
 
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