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With Easter only two weeks away, many parents and grandparents may consider adding something more than plastic grass, candy bunnies and Peeps to their children's Easter baskets.

Before buying beautiful live bunnies at local pet stores, families need to look beyond the baby rabbit's appeal as a cute holiday prop and realize bunnies aren't for everybody. "This is pet, who needs daily care and attention, and has a lifespan of up to 10 years," explains Wendy Lincoln, founder of Magic Happens Rabbit Rescue.

A good rabbit owner is committed to caring for and interacting with a bunny throughout the course of the pet's life. Lincoln certainly doesn't begrudge parents the joy of surprising their children with an Easter bunny—but she suggests going about it in a slightly different way.

Even if you think your child could benefit from bunny love, it's best to know for sure before hopping into a situation that could leave another bunny homeless (or worse) and a child disappointed.

Rather than having the kids wake up to a new pet hopping around the yard from an impulse purchase, Lincoln recommends first taking children to a pet store or rabbit-owning friends' house to gauge the child's reaction to the live animal.

For example, toddlers don't usually differentiate between animate and inanimate objects. They may try to bang the bunny's head, accidentally crush the little critter, make other noises or movements that frighten the rabbit into believing a predator is near. Alternatively, little ones may be just as delighted to receive chocolate or animatronic rabbits rather than the real thing.

Even school-aged Beatrix Potter or Bugs Bunny fanatics may be terrified or repulsed by an animal who twitches, nips, jumps around erratically and needs to have its cage cleaned. Elementary school children may also be disappointed because the animal doesn't want to be handled all the time, or bored because the critter can't talk. (Don't laugh. It happens.)

So—age wise—upper elementary and junior high kids tend to be good candidates for rabbit ownership, but their schedules can get pretty full. However, age isn't always the greatest predictor of a responsible rabbit owner. Over the years, many college-aged kids have relinquished bunnies into rescue.

"You need to find out why your children wants this kind of pet," Lincoln says. "They may be unrealistic expectations. And, who knows? The child may have really wanted a guinea pig" (which Magic Happens also rescues).

If your family is, in fact, rabbit ready, the next step is research. Surprises tend to go awry when the gift is not what the recipient really envisioned. So, Lincoln suggests parents conduct rabbit research with their children—not just on the breed of rabbit they would like to own but cages and supplies.

Once your ideal breed and environment is identified, you can wait to surprise your children on Easter morning by wrapping rabbit supplies and creating a gift certificate that entitles them to pick out their own rabbit from rescue.

Besides saving a life, adopting a rescued rabbit allows owners to select a spayed/neutered animal who has been examined by a vet. In addition, the foster home provides a description of the rabbit's personality based on observation. And potential owners can foster the rabbit for a week to determine if it's a good fit for their family.

"We may not have your ideal bunny right away," Lincoln says, "but we will work with you to find the right one." You won't have long to wait. By May, the selection is astounding. Magic Happens Rabbit Rescue is overrun with aging Easter bunnies, who are discarded when:

• The kids who were supposed to be the owners go off to summer camp;

• The rabbits get too big or are not as friendly as they grow into teenagers;

• Two rabbits mistakenly thought to be the same gender and have now multiplied like…well, rabbits;

• Owners have decided they simply don't want to make the time to care for the rabbit;

• Or, Grandma just couldn't resist the temptation to buy Easter bunnies, but by the next morning, realized no one really wanted a rabbit.

And, finally, a word about chicks and ducklings: Don't. Unless you live on a farm. As with any baby, chicks and ducklings have specific nutritional needs and care requirements. They are also very susceptible to pretty much anything—dogs, cats and other predators; being accidentally dropped or stepped on; sudden environmental change, etc. There is nothing more horrible for a child than to have a baby animal in their care die. And, even if the animal survives—just like rabbits—they cannot be released into the wild if families tire of them.

For more information about Magic Happens, click here.

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