Volunteers hop into schools to teach bunny understanding

Easter is coming and some parents can’t resist buying a soft, lop-eared bunny as a pet for a child. But animal advocates say this may not be good for the child or rabbit. Too often these cute bundles of fur wind up in an animal shelter or even worse, dead.

That’s according to Christa Clarkson, a “companion rabbit educator” with the Parsonsfield-based Maine Association of Animal Assisted Healing. Clarkson and her black-and-white “uppie-eared” bunny, Wilson, are among seven volunteer pet-person teams, who go into schools to educate children about the proper care of pets.

Clarkson of Parsonsfield says rabbits are not the docile, hardy creatures they may appear to be. She says they have subtle body language and if misunderstood will retaliate by biting, scratching or withdrawing. She says rabbits are highly sensitive and require a lot of social interaction to stay healthy.

“With better and more informed decisions, rabbits and people can be happy,” Clarkson says. “They can’t learn English, but we can learn rabbit.”

Clarkson says that several rabbits at a Westbrook shelter were domestic pets abandoned in the wild. She said they were rescued because domesticated rabbits don’t know how to forage.

The Coastal Humane Society in Brunswick has about 10 rabbits up for adoption.

Meredith Pridham, a veterinarian at the Brewer Veterinary Clinic, has three pet rabbits of her own. She says rabbits must be handled slowly and gently to gain the animals’ trust – not a specialty of many children. She says rabbits scare easily and will kick hard with their powerful hind legs when picked up. She adds the animals have weak spines and their backs can be broken in the process.

The Brewer veterinarian says rabbits kept in cages need exercise like any confined animal. She stresses the area where they play must be “bunnyproofed,” much as one would babyproof a room. She says rabbits are curious by nature and are capable of chewing rugs, furniture, electric cords, and anything else within reach. This can prove fatal since rabbits do not vomit and their digestive tract can become blocked.

To find out more about rabbits, visit the House Rabbit Society’s Web site: www.rabbit.org. To contact Clarkson and her fellow volunteers, call 625-7707.