Well, look at the rise in pet dogs (and thus, dog breeders) ..
And no I'm not slating all breeders, just bad ones, but reptuable breeders don't just start up during a pandemic, conveniently coinciding with a massive increase of prices for pups.
I'm not sure why the increase in sales of rabbits shocks me, because actually there was something around this when adopting our Oscar. I suppose you COULD call it an impulse, except it mostly wasn't. We were already on the lookout for a husbun for Bea, but she hadn't had her spay yet so there was certainly no rush. We got the set up ready so they could be apart until it was safe to introduce after neutering, and I felt when the time came I would know (this is generally how I take on any pet).
In pets at home, picking up dog bits and bobs, and as I was walking past who did I see in the rehoming section all on his own? Oscar. I had to do a double take. I felt really sorry for him all alone at such a young age. I asked if it was a buck or doe, and to my surprise it was a buck. I asked why he was there and he had been brought in as he was part of an accidental litter
roll: - I do wonder if the rabbits were sold mis-sexed from P@H, but I digress), his sister had been adopted that day to go to be eventually bonded with a husbun the owners already had. I said I would talk to my partner and possibly be back. So we went to pick up the rest of our shopping and discussed it as we went around, and decided yes, he'd be the one and make a good husbun. And so we returned.
Right as a woman with her brood of sprogs was in the middle of buying 4 hamsters for each child, and trying to convince one to adopt the rabbit instead :shock: The child had originally asked the mother for the bun, and she'd said no, she was getting a hamster. Then had changed her mind 'because he was so cute' and was trying to convince the child to exchange the hamster they'd just picked out, for the rabbit, but the child wasn't budging. The lady I originally spoke to then told me 'There was no way I was going to let her rehome him, she's just bought 4 hamsters, and deciding on a rabbit as well last minute is a bad idea, he'll be back here in a month' (the staff know me fairly well as it's the most local place for pet supplies, and I'd expressed I had a doe so was only looking at a buck really for bonding after neutering) and said she'd much prefer him to come to me, which was lovely. In the middle of this, the mother came back and said 'we'll take the rabbit as well' :shock: She got a sharp no.
So, yes, it's too easy for anyone to impulse buy. I'm not saying I always disagree with slight impulses, as in, if you already know the care, husbandry and responsibility of a species, and you're fully prepared to take that on with the intention of for life, and have the equipment to do so. But in the case with the lady with all the hamsters, I felt it was a case of more money than sense and to keep the children 'occupied' during the pandemic.
I'm totally aware though I don't know her experience/knowledge, and maybe she was fully prepared for it (I have a fair amount of pets myself) and that perhaps I'm being judgemental but the way she was talking about it certainly seemed to me like she didn't have a scooby.
I'd be in full support of courses, or even licenses to own pets, and I think the sooner something like this is introduced the better. Certainly being a dog owner the amount of folk getting puppies because they're furloughed is ridiculous, and you can tell the ones that just do not have a clue and aren't responsible. Already heard of a few cases of the dogs up for rehoming because they're returning to work - what did they think was going to happen? :?
It really, really saddens me. Animals are not just to keep you company when you're bored off work, then discarded after.