# Easter



## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

Don't read this if you want to continue to like Easter.



I used to love Easter.I still do sort of...It's just that I'm afraid of Easter now.Now all I can think of are the animals. The rabbits,ducklings and other chicks. I'm so scared and sad for all those animals,I can't even look forward to seeing my family for more than s few seconds before the happiness and excitement change to sadness,fear,and hopelessness for the animals that will be abused by kids who don't understand that you need to be gentle,be neglected,not be in proper conditions,and be put out as strays or go to the shelter when they're "not cute anymore " or " it stopped being fun. I'm so upset about the bybs and mills that will be supported because of Easter. I'm just so so scared and upset. I'm crying because I can't do anything.Nothing.


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## Nico (Oct 9, 2016)

Those are very valid, unfortunate points. But, don't forget about all of the people that take part in rescuing animals. (Of course, that wouldn't be necessary if people didn't objectify animals and "discard" them). 
These issues have to be stopped at the core. And, of course, that would consist of stopping the greedy people who breed/sell these animals and the ignorant consumers.

All we can do is educate. Some people choose to be ignorant regarding animals and will never "get it". 
I dream of the moment when all backyard breeders wake up and realize they are committing evil actions and/or get shut down. And I'm not so sure how one would go about shutting them down. 

Like I said, all I can think of is to spread mass quality awareness/education.
It's a shame that Easter is a commercialized mess. But, those of us who are aware, can find ways to help animals during this time. No one can stop us.


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

A few years ago some of my neighbors (young couple in their late 20s to early 30s with a baby a 4year old and a 5year old)got a rabbit(buttercup) all they ever fed that thing was romaine lettuce and carrots.I told them that the rabbit needed actual food,but the dad said "Nah,it's fine ." I said that it wasn't healthy for the rabbit and and he said"But they like carrots!".The next thing I said was probably not a good thing to say around young kids because I said " So humans can live on cakes and French fries because people like those?" And the wife said " the rabbit is fine rabbits love carrots " .The five year old was the only one who had any sense and she said " but daddy I want Buttercup to be healthy.I want her to have good food." The parents said she was fine and I offered to buy food but they said no.I know they had money because they even now have parties often and days after got a new car and the kids got new toys that took several loud trips between the house and car .I know they were toys because they said they were all toys and I heard the 5year old saying repeatedly "I don't want toys I want food for buttercup." And the parents said "she's fine the neighbor doesn't know anything.".Several weeks later I was at there house and the rabbit was obviously horribly dehydrated and starving.The five year old was almost crying saying that Buttercup was sick.The dad quitly saidto me " I actually like that thing I hope it doesn't die." I was to upset to say anything besides "looks like I do know something about animal care"so I left.Buttercup died.They got another rabbit (Oreo)but the five year old said "I know Buttercup is dead, but I want her back,not Oreo.I like Oreo,but not as a replacement of Buttercup.No life is replaceable."


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## BearNecessities (Dec 6, 2016)

I dread Easter purely for the fact that uneducated parents gift bunnies to their kids. A lot of the family run pet shops near me stop selling rabbits throughout April for that reason. The chain pet shops love it though and buy even bigger batches of buns because they know they'll sell like hot cakes, no regard for the welfare of the animal once it's left the shop and the novelty wears off and the kid leaves it in a small hutch at the bottom of the garden for the duration of its life, as long as the money's in their pockets it's not their problem. Trying to educate these people is a waste of time, they never listen. When I worked at a chain pet shop, I won't give its actual name because I don't want any issues - we'll call it smets at gnome for the sake of this post, a young couple and their very young child came in to get the child an "Easter bunny", they picked an indoor Guinea Pig cage, which I politely told them would not be acceptable accomodation for a rabbit however they knew best obviously and went with the £45 cage that was miles to small. They got the cheapest, lowest quality food and when I tried to educate and point them in the direction of a more nutritional food for an 8 week old bunny that costed slightly more I was told "you only work here, you don't know anything", having to be as courteous as possible I politely told them my mum and I had kept and bred rabbits my entire life and was more than aware of nutritional requirements I was quite aggressively told "Are we expected to believe that? You'll say anything that will persuade us to spend more money." I wasn't happy to sell a rabbit to this family and upon expressing my concerns to my manager I was told "It's not our problem how they want to keep and feed their rabbit, just sell them it", unfortunately there was no arguing with that **** so I had to sell a bunny to them. I dread to think what happened to the poor baby. Back yard breeders are no better, they sit in wait for spring so their pet shop rabbits can breed and produce babies riddled with problems. I just hate the entire easter period. I don't think rabbits should be associated with the holiday at all. I'm not religious, I don't celebrate it but as far as I'm aware Easter is about the bloody resurrection of Jesus, where do rabbits come into that equation? I just don't understand.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

> I'm not religious, I don't celebrate it but as far as I'm aware Easter is about the bloody resurrection of Jesus, where do rabbits come into that equation?


It is actually pretty interesting! It goes back to the pagan days. There were many Spring Equinox festivals and traditions all over the world. Rabbits were a popular symbol of spring & fertility (hence the term breed like rabbits lol). As Christianity took over as the major holiday, even though people changed religions they didn't want to give up their festivals/traditions. They were huge fun celebrations! So most were just incorporated into the new religion. Same thing with Christmas, which is super pagan. 

I mean we even celebrate Easter on the first Sunday, after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. And the name Easter comes from the name of a Goddess, in which pagans still honor and celebrate Spring Equinox today as Ostara.


I am not Christian but pagan. I don't really celebrate Easter. If I had kids I'd do the whole egg/candy stuff. We do have dinner at my inlaws but thats it. but I wouldn't let it ruin the holiday for you. Use it to spread good messages!


It is super sucky how many people take advantage of holidays to sell animals. 

All you can really do is spread awareness. In one of the rabbit groups I am in on facebook everyone has been sharing pics of why you shouldn't get a rabbit for Easter and those are great to share!

I thought it was great though, I went to Tractor Supply & they have baby chicks/ducks. They are so cute, I spent way too long just staring at them lol but they have tons of signs up all around them saying they are not easter gifts and they will only sell no less than 6 because they are for farm life and not just pets. I thought that was being more responsible.


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## SuperJesterPaw (Apr 7, 2017)

This reminds me of how many people get black cats for Halloween. As soon as it's over, or the charm wears off, the cat is either neglected or abandoned. In fact, they do this with bunnies too. I remember volunteering with bunnies one year, and there were so many black bunnies, aparently because people just get them for Halloween and then abandon them. It is so sad and stupid how people act as though animals are products.


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

Less than a week until Easter.Im not looking forward to it.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

I see this all the time with horses. A child goes through a pony phase and demands a horse without knowing anything about horses. Once they get the horse they realize horses are alot of work and aren't cuddly big dogs, they are herd animals that need a firm leader. The child misses the horses warning signals and ends up getting bitten or kicked. Then its bye bye horse, sold off to the next clueless child owner.


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

I wonder how many animals will be adopted as Easter presents.I wonder how many of them will go to good homes with people who have done their research and how many will taken back to the store or go to a shelter.I wonder how many animals are in cages about the size of a recycling bin,in which they may live for the rest of their lives,which will probably be very short, and hidden in the corner of a closet until morning.Yes,it is a wonderful thought that the Easter bunny will be giving away it's friends,probably to never see them again , ducklings and other chicks as if they aren't living things.I wish that the parents that get animals without doing research were more responsible.I wonder how different things would be if the mills,stores,and people were able to understand what the animals have to go through.


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

Its ridiculous how much consumerism there is around all holidays, they've lost all of their original meaning and now its all about money money money for everyone. Take the chocolate and hot cross buns for eg, people are just being super easily convinced to spend up to 4 times as much per 100g of chocolate just because they're in the shape of a bunny or an egg. Why? Humans just all have a dumb herd mentality. Mass purchase of living beings just because they're representative of a holiday and abandoning them later on when they cant care for them is just unbelievable. Hopefully when the current young generation who's been inundated with information about animal abandonment on social media grow up, they'd know better than the current generation of parents.


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

Nieve5552 said:


> Its ridiculous how much consumerism there is around all holidays, they've lost all of their original meaning and now its all about money money money for everyone. Take the chocolate and hot cross buns for eg, people are just being super easily convinced to spend up to 4 times as much per 100g of chocolate just because they're in the shape of a bunny or an egg. Why? Humans just all have a dumb herd mentality. Mass purchase of living beings just because they're representative of a holiday and abandoning them later on when they cant care for them is just unbelievable. Hopefully when the current young generation who's been inundated with information about animal abandonment on social media grow up, they'd know better than the current generation of parents.


I don't think that things like that will get better anytime soon.A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about how horrible Easter is when it comes to the irresponsible people and animals,and they said '" but they're just dumb animals, it's not like they have feelings or know what's going on."


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

If people could understand what life is like for all the animals that are adopted for Easter would they stop breeding, selling, and buying,or would they continue?


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## Shisket (Feb 23, 2017)

I think that if people understood life from an animal's point of view, animals would be treated better. I also think that many bad breeders would continue breeding for the money, but hopefully people wouldn't buy from them


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