If you've ever been to Pet Wonderland, Tropic Pet Center, Pets N You, Pet Palace, Puppies & More, Petables Puppy Boutique, CDE Exotics, Cage-N-Tank, D C Pet Center, or many other small pet stores in NEPA during the Easter season, you'll see tons of baby bunnies. Marketed as starter pets, low maintenance, cheap, and easy, you'll likely be talked into buying a too small, yet too expensive cage.

Every year, these stores source a large amount of baby rabbits from unscrupulous ‘mill’ breeders. Many even breed their own. They market them as Easter bunnies, and parents often underestimate the amount of care rabbits require. In a few weeks when all the Easter candy is gone, many rabbits are banished to outdoor hutches, surrendered to shelters and rescues, or dumped outdoors. Unfortunately, they often starve or get eaten by predators. An estimated 4 out of 5 rabbits purchased for Easter do not see their first birthday.

Bunnies are the third most abandoned pet in the U.S., as well as being the third most euthanized, according to the House Rabbit Society, which cited a 2010 study of animal shelters.

Spaying/neutering eliminates odor, curbs hormonal and destructive behavior, like spraying and chewing. Not to mention, no unwanted litters! Unfortunately, not many area shelters, rescues or veterinarians are rabbit savvy and do not alter rabbits, further perpetuating the issue.

Please ban the sale of unaltered rabbits for the Easter season, if not altogether.