Don't buy bunnies on impulse
Posted: 07 December 2010 1819 hrs
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SINGAPORE: With the Year of the Rabbit just around the corner, animal welfare groups are urging members of the public not to buy rabbits on impulse.
625 pet rabbits were abandoned during the last Year of the Rabbit in 1999, which was a 116 per cent increase from the year before, according to The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
Deirdre Moss, Executive Director of the SPCA, said: "We certainly hope that this coming Lunar Year of the Rabbit will not see a repeat of people buying them on a whim, to bring luck."
Animal welfare groups said that the problem of buying pets on impulse is particularly acute for rabbits because people wrongly assume that they are low-maintenance starter pets for children.
They added that many pet shops are also not well informed about the care needed for a pet rabbit and often provide wrong or false information to unknowing first-time owners.
Animal welfare groups have advised against buying rabbits from a shop, and to adopt instead from SPCA or from the House Rabbit Society Singapore.
-CNA/ac