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Rabbit Sales up 200% Since Covid :(
- Thread starter Beapig
- Start date
InspectorMorse
Wise Old Thumper
I'm sure that rescues will be overrun and dumped bunny statistics will be up. I honestly think that before adopting/owning any pet, owners should have to take a paid course to show that they are committed enough to learn about the animal they are taking on, and competent enough to own said animal.
If you had to pay to take the course and get the licence, it would immediately weed out people who impulse buy animals with no knowledge about them. I literally know someone who bought a couple of Guinea Pigs from PAH after a bad day at work to cheer herself up - these particular animals are well looked after, but the fact that people can buy animals 'off the shelf' at all, is just wrong.
[emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]
People need to go get ice cream geezeeee
It's very sad though, it's so easy to obtain animals, I nearly ordered a tortoise online the other day [emoji51] that's so crazy to me.
bunny momma
Wise Old Thumper
I have often been asked to take bunnies from persons who purchased them and later wanted to get rid of them.
Before getting any pet a person should have to read and sign a paper outlining the animals requirements for housing, diet, and health needs as prepared by the appropriate animal welfare group for that species and agree, under penalty of law, to comply with those requirements.
Before getting any pet a person should have to read and sign a paper outlining the animals requirements for housing, diet, and health needs as prepared by the appropriate animal welfare group for that species and agree, under penalty of law, to comply with those requirements.
MimzMum
Wise Old Thumper
The news is already full of stories of people dumping "pandemic pets" that aren't rabbits. I dread to think.....
I have quite a few items that we don't need since Kitty passed which will be going to rescue/thrift that they're probably going to need in the post Easter surge.
I have quite a few items that we don't need since Kitty passed which will be going to rescue/thrift that they're probably going to need in the post Easter surge.
keletkezes
Wise Old Thumper
Yeah, as MM said, I don't think it's just rabbits. Two of my mates now have cats but, again, they're thought-out pets not impulse buys.
JessBun
Mama Doe
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 litterroll: - 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.
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.
a reader of books
Warren Veteran
:shock: Those poor hamsters. I doubt they'll be getting the care they need.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
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.
I'm glad she wasn't able to take Oscar as well, at least, and that he came home with you instead.It really is awful how easy it is for people to get animals.
A mandatory course before being allowed to have a certain animal sounds like a great idea. And people who mistreat or dump animals should get a ban for life (not talking about people who have to rehome an animal for a legitimate reason). I think pet shops shouldn't be allowed to sell animals, either. It makes it so easy for people to impulse buy, and the staff often doesn't have the knowledge to tell people what care the animals require. At least shelters and reputable breeders check whether a home would be suitable for the animal.When the pandemic started and so many people adopted animals from shelters the newspapers here were all, "Oh, so wonderful, all these shelter dogs and cats are finding new homes! The shelters are empty!", but you just know a lot of them will end up being dumped either because people didn't realise how much work they are or because they won't have time for the animals anymore when they get back to work, and it's happening already. And all those young animals people get from bad breeders...
