I told Mikel about this yesterday, and he (who is not a HUGE fan of the rabbits like I am) was FURIOUS!
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Shellie,
While I applaud you for holding your daughter accountable, I have some things I need to say on Jack's behalf.
As a parent myself, I understand how hard it is to refuse the inevitable "Puppy Promise", but that absolutely does not excuse not researching the breed of pet that you're purchasing for your child. New Zealand Bucks (male rabbits) are a commercial meat breed, and grow to a weight of 10-11 lbs! They're also not notorious for their amicable personality, they're labeled a skittish breed, and with any child under age of 16, scratching and other injuries to child or rabbit are a liability.
My son, despite that he is just a toddler, wanted a rabbit so badly when we rescued former meat rabbits, and now the doe belongs to him. I know he's not going to be able to manage her on his own, so I take care of Artemis. He enjoys filling her food dish, and putting down the fresh bedding in her cage. But I don't mind cleaning up after her. Sometimes it's our duty to teach our children by example.
Now, onto the bad part. Certain pets are banned in parts of the US because people buy them, and "Oh no, our _______ got too big for our cage!" (because they didn't research how big their pet was going to get either), and they simply release them into the wild.
I'm sure other rabbit owners have emailed you, and I'm sure they've told you that European rabbits, and the US Wild Cottontail are two very different species. But now you have to realize, that not only is Jack ill-suited to survival in the hawk/coyote infested area around you, until snow flies, but now, he's also a much larger rabbit (11 lbs) competing with the local wild rabbit (5 lbs) population for food. The other issue is that Domestic rabbits are gregarious, and cottontails aren't so much.(
http://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/mammals/cottontail.htm) Which means that Jack will continue to be lonely, or even attacked by the cottontails!
So you didn't like him being in a tiny cage (not a hutch), in the dark? It doesn't cost a lot to build a "Tractor", which is a pen that sits on the ground with a house attached, that is designed to be moved across the ground to fresh grass as needed. This would've been the better lesson to teach your child. Animals are for life, not until you get tired of them, or they become too time-consuming, too much effort, or too much money. You would frown upon a woman who would abandon her children for these exact same reasons, and I love my rabbits just as much as I love my son. Most of them are rescues. And I can't imagine someone turning a rabbit like my "Caerbannog" loose to fend for himself! Why would you teach your children that animals are disposable?!
I would like to urge you to write another blog post about why this is really not as inspirational and heartwarming as you'd originally anticipated, and urge others NOT to release domestic animals, but instead to rehome them, via shelter, rescue, or ad in the local classifieds.
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Rebecca, Zackary, Artemis (New Zealand cross), Caerbannog (New Zealand), Swiffer (Lionhead), Bruiser (Holland Lop), Nemi (Polish), Niambi (English Lop), No-More and No-Less (Domestic Shorthair cats)
Minions for Munchkins
