Think twice before giving animals as Easter gifts: The Courier-Times

Cute animals don’t always make good house pets, so it might be a good idea to think twice before buying one as an Easter present.

Easter pets, most commonly baby chicks, ducks and rabbits, are usually purchased by parents around the holiday with the intention of giving them to their children as gifts. However, if the child loses interest in the pet, or the family is unable to give it the care it needs, this can lead to abandonment of the animal.

But Henry County has shown signs over the years that they know how to care for their animals. Kristen Heitman, state DNR and federally licensed wildlife rehabilitator at the Providence Wildlife Group in Westfield, said that they rarely see any abandoned Easter pets coming from Henry County, but that a lot of them come from other places in East Central Indiana. Providence Wildlife Group accepts animals, mostly birds, from 20 counties in Indiana.

“Henry County is doing a good job, but it’s important for them to share their awareness with their friends in other counties,” she said.

On average, the wildlife rehabilitation center gets somewhere between 30 and 50 abandoned Easter pets in a year. Even though it doesn’t seem like a lot, Heitman said that it’s hard to care for them since they are primarily focused on wildlife, rather than domesticated animals.

Abandoned chickens and ducks in particular have a difficult time in the wild because they are a domesticated breed. Heitman encourages people buying birds as presents to consider the long-term consequences of owning one.

“If you wouldn’t buy them at any other time of the year, don’t buy them at Easter,” she said.

And for a large portion of New Castle, these animals aren’t even legal to own.

According to New Castle city ordinance 90.15, chickens and ducks are not allowed to be kept within city limits. Rabbits are allowed as long as they are not kept “for the purpose of commercial sale for their meat or pelts,” according to city ordinance 90.16, which details all the domestic animals prohibited within city limits.

If anyone violates the provisions under ordinances 90.15 and 90.16, they will be subjected to a fine up to $100 for each offense. Failure to comply with these ordinances is counted as separate offenses for each 24-hour period of noncompliance, according to city ordinance 90.999.

But purchasing the animals is only part of the problem. Many families aren’t prepared to take care of these animals, and don’t know where to take them when they don’t want them anymore.

Amy Deitchley, the foster care coordinator for Indiana House Rabbit Society (IHRS) in Indianapolis, said that there is a noticeable uptick in bunny abandonment in the months following Easter.

“Bunnies will usually end up in one of two places,” Deitchley said. “The first is in a rescue shelter, the second is people will set them free in the wild.”

The IHRS is the state’s chapter of the national House Rabbit Society organization, a group that works with rescue shelters around the state to protect domesticated and stray bunnies from abandonment.

“We’re like a dog and cat rescue, but for bunnies,” she said.

Deitchley said a lot of people will impulse buy a rabbit as an Easter pet because they look so cute and cuddly. While that may be the case in the beginning, bunnies tend to not like being held or played with after they transition through puberty, and this is part of the reason rabbits are the third most commonly surrendered animals to shelters, she said.

However, spaying and neutering the rabbit helps them to be better house pets, and even makes it easier to litter-train them. If properly cared for, domestic bunnies can live anywhere from eight to 12 years. Deitchley also recommends adopting a bunny from a shelter rather than buying one from a pet shop.

Abandoned rabbits have a very low chance of surviving in the wild and it’s also illegal to abandon any animal according to Indiana code 35-46-3-7. A typical domestic bunny’s coloring is different from a stray, which makes it difficult for them to hide from wild predators. They are also more susceptible to heat and diseases and are more likely to get hit by cars.

Part of the reason abandoned Easter pets isn’t a bigger problem in New Castle is because of businesses that follow strict guidelines when they sell baby animals.

The New Castle Tractor Supply Co. sells baby chicks and ducks for 10 weeks, usually the end of February through May. Becky Pickle, the manager at the local Tractor Supply Co., said that they are careful to follow state and federal requirements when they sell the animals and get their birds from reputable hatcheries.

“Only our employees are allowed to handle them, customers aren’t allowed,” Pickle said. Each employee must take an online training course before they handle the baby animals, and Pickle said that the store is also careful to keep the animals in tanks in a caged area to prevent customers from picking them up.

Since city residents aren’t allowed to have chickens or ducks as pets within city limits, she said that she won’t sell any to people living within city limits.

“I’ve had to turn some people away,” she said. “I won’t usually sell them as pets.”

For those who buy the chicks for hobby farming and ducks for a pond, the store requires that they buy at least six chicks or two ducks at a time. Some states require a minimum purchase for livestock animals, so all TSC stores across the country follow that rule.

Employees go over care and shelter guidelines for any first-time buyers to ensure that they know how to properly keep the chickens and ducks. According to a quick care sheet for chicks provided at the store, new owners need a chick starter kit, starter/grower feed with 18 to 20 percent protein, a chicken feeder, a chicken fountain, bedding, a brooder lamp and a red heat bulb. The checklist also contains additional information about how to care for the chicks once they are at their new home.

The birds come in through the mail every week, and TSC employees make sure to check them and get them situated in their respective tanks. However, Pickle said that sometimes a duck will come through with a broken leg or some other issue, and they will send it to a duck rescue facility for rehabilitation. The tanks are cleaned every morning and evening and employees inspect them around noon. Duck tanks usually have to be checked more often because they make more of a mess in their tank.

Through these safety precautions, the chicks and ducks have better chances of surviving the purchasing process, and ultimately the Easter season.

“We’ve got a very high survival rate for our chicks and ducks,” she said.

Linda Bir-Conn, director of the New Castle-Henry County Animal Shelter, said that they usually get rabbits and ducks after Easter, but not many chickens. If they can’t house the animals at their facility, they work with other shelters, farmers and even 4-H kids to place the them in safe and loving environments.

Bir-Conn said that they go to 4-H kids first to see if they want to adopt a rabbit to show at the fair. They’ve had luck with this system in the past, with one rabbit even winning first place.

Most of the unwanted Easter pets are brought in at least a few months after Easter, once they reach maturity. Bir-Conn encourages those interested in giving an animal as an Easter pet to acknowledge that the animals won’t always be babies.

“Some people may not be fully prepared to handle animals once they reach adulthood,” she said. “They need to gain some knowledge about the animal before getting one.”

*I talked to various animal wildlife groups and the New Castle-Henry County Humane Society director for this story. I also went to the TSC in New Castle to take pictures of the baby animals. This story was originally only supposed to be photos (we got the idea from a press release about TSC having baby chicks and ducks), but I wanted to do a full story on adopting pets for Easter.