Every year after Easter, Fairhaven Animal Control Officer Terry Cripps, who also serves as director of the Fairhaven Animal Shelter, rounds up bunnies in the Fort Phoenix area. The bunnies were Easter gifts to kids. When the kids get bored with them, the bunnies are turned loose in the wild by parents who don't want or need the added responsibility of caring for them.

Aid Groups Help Palestinians Weather Economic Crisis
Getty Images
loading...

Cripps said the sad part is these bunnies were born in captivity and have never had to fend for themselves.

"They are not wild bunnies, and they are not going to survive," he said.

He added that domesticated bunnies "don't have the instinct to run" in the face of danger and are "too big and heavy" to get far if they did.

Candy Company Makes Chocolate Easter Bunnies
Getty Images
loading...

Cripps rounds up the bunnies and takes them to the shelter, where they are cared for until permanent homes are secured. The cost of caring for the animals usually comes from generous donors.

South Florida Park Overrun By Pet Rabbits Let Free By Owners
Getty Images
loading...

Other Easter bunnies are simply brought to the shelter.

"If they buy the bunny for Easter, it is often in the shelter by Mother's Day," Cripps said.

Get our free mobile app

 

Cripps said once selfies are taken with the bunnies on Easter morning, the animals quickly lose their appeal.

Cripps reminds parents who might want to buy a bunny as an Easter gift that the animals will require regular visits to the veterinarian. He said not to adopt a bunny "unless you are prepared to make a ten-year commitment."

2012 Sydney Royal Easter Show
Getty Images
loading...

It's not just bunnies. Cripps says many parents "think it's so cute" to buy baby chicks for their kids as Easter gifts. Many chicks die fairly quickly after the holiday is over.

Cripps said if parents want to teach their kids to be responsible, don't buy them a bunny or a chick, but rather teach them to clean the bathroom once a week.

That sounds like sound advice. Stick to stuffed bunnies instead.

WBSM's Barry Richard and Bugs Bunny posing at Six Flags New England
Barry Richard/Townsquare Media
loading...

OneGreenPlanet.Org agrees with Cripps' assessment, as does the House Rabbit Society.

LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

LOOK: 30 fascinating facts about sleep in the animal kingdom

More From WBSM-AM/AM 1420