On Why a Bunny Might Have Two Noses

(AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Brian A. Pounds)

A pet store in Connecticut received a shipment of products last week. Products, meaning rabbits. Sentient nonhumans for sale. The rabbits were produced, of course, by a rabbit mill that supplies "pet" stores with live creatures whom humans will purchase without having any idea of the conditions they were produced under. Or what happened to their mother.

This time of year, the demand for rabbits peaks because Easter is around the corner, and what better way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after he was crucified than to buy a rabbit. Whom you will put in a cage for the rest of her life, without a fraction of the stimulation she should have. And who won't be able to do what comes naturally to her.

But back to the bunny in question. He has two noses. The AP calls him "the nosey bunny" and notes that inbreeding or the parent's exposure to pesticides or poisons might be the culprit.

I bet crowds of people will flock to see the bunny. And maybe sales will increase. How auspicious for the owner of the pet store, who deals in sentient nonhumans!

Deformities in animals who are mass-produced are not new. Nor are they surprising. And it's not cute and sweet that the greed of humans and our obsession with profiting from every inanimate object and every living being on Planet Earth trumps compassion . . . and even common sense.

Go to the House Rabbit Society for more on why purchasing a bunny as an Easter gift, or any other kind of gift, and in fact purchasing a bunny in general, is a terrible idea. And go to Make Mine Chocolate! (and vegan chocolate, I hope) for more on "breaking the cycle of acquisition and relinquishment by educating the public about the responsibilities involved in keeping a companion rabbit before a rabbit is brought home."

Comments

[kelly g.]

Let's hope breeders don't try to make a trend of this, and produce rabbits with two noses. "Twisty Cats," ugh.

[Bea Elliott]

Speaking of Easter and the upsurge of bunny and chick sales... There's a business in my area that sells both with the promise to take the animals back once the kids tire of the critters. I don't know the refund terms. I guess it's a "rent-a-bunny/chick" kind of place.

I suppose in their minds they are "saving" the animals from the expected mistreatment and abandonment. And hey - what a bonus in the mix! They get the originals back so they can make more for next Easter!... so they can *not* be abused either. (screwy isn't it?)