The sad plight of many thousands of pet rabbits given up to rescue each year, often within a few short months after Easter, has been revealed by Make Mine Chocolate! UK in one of the largest UK-wide survey of rabbits entering rescue ever carried out.

“Around 60% of all rabbits entering rescue in the UK have been owned for less than a year." reported campaign spokesperson Jo Wills. “This just goes to show how ill-prepared for a long term commitment many owners are when they decide to get a rabbit.

"With approximately 67,000 rabbits passing through rescues each year according to recent Rabbit Welfare Association figures, we estimate that around 42,000 rabbits annually have a home for less than a year before being given up to rescue. Clearly this is very wrong, and something has to change.”

The pet trade can do much to help improve rabbit welfare this Easter, and Make Mine Chocolate! is urging all pet retailers to join this years’ Easter Rabbit Sale Amnesty, and suspend the sale of rabbits during the Easter holidays.

“We are asking all pet shops to get involved this Easter, and we’ve already received a great deal of interest. However great or small an individual shops’ rabbit welfare activities are this Easter, the overall effect can be massive across the entire retail sector,” said Jo.

The 2014 customers message, ‘Get Wise to Rabbit Welfare’ is designed to help customers learn about the needs of a pet rabbit before they commit to buy, and the message to the trade is to ‘Be Wise to Rabbit Welfare’ and help educate customers so the number of rabbits being given up to rescue can be reduced.

“Many customers do not appreciate that rabbits don’t actually make a good pet for children, or appreciate that they can be very expensive to care for and need a carefully controlled diet and healthcare by a rabbit specialist vet. The point of purchase is the last opportunity to educate before the rabbit is bought and then subject to a short life of misery, set free to face almost certain death, or given up to rescue," said Jo.

“It actually makes great business sense to ensure a customer obtains the right pet; their owners tend to spend more to help ensure a happy and healthy life, and the pet often has a longer life span. So everyone wins – including the rabbit,” concluded Jo.

The Make Mine Chocolate! Rabbit Welfare campaign has put together a list of activities that shops can adopt and get involved with this year’s Rabbit Welfare Easter campaign, including:

• Suspend the sale of rabbits during Easter
• Hold a cooling off period before the rabbit is taken to the new home
• Provide a detailed questionnaire covering accommodation, diet and health care for completion before a sale can take place (available free of charge from Make Mine Chocolate! Rabbit Welfare)
• Increase the price of rabbits to help deter impulse purchases
• Remove rabbits from the public pet areas for the Easter period
• Provide handouts covering all the key factors new owners need to consider before purchase (available free of charge from Make Mine Chocolate! Rabbit Welfare)
• Invite local rescue groups to hold events in-store through the Easter holidays.
• Provide toy or chocolate rabbits for those not yet ready to commit!

There’s still time to get involved this Easter so get in touch with Make Mine Chocolate! For further details visit www.MakeMineChocolate.org.uk or email info@makeminechocolate.org.uk