Animals should not be prizes

THE EDITOR: Every year as Easter approaches we see advertisements for Easter events at malls and other locations. Many of these events have displays of live animals.

Unfortunately, some also offer rabbits and chicks as prizes in competitions. Please do not enter or allow your children to enter any competitions in which the prizes are live birds or animals.

Usually, the “prizes” are kept on display in areas that become crowded with visitors. This is very stressful for the animals. The conditions under which they are kept during the display may also be too hot and airless for them and, sometimes, they do not even have adequate food and water. Lastly, the display cages used rarely have a covered portion where they can hide from the crowd occasionally, to reduce stress. No live animal should be given as a prize because there is no guarantee that the winner (or, usually, his/her parents) actually wants the animal and has the means and will to take care of it properly.

Tiny chicks may look cute but they soon grow up into regular chickens. Then they require a proper chicken coop with a run to live in and regular feeding with the appropriate food. Little rabbits are sweet and furry but they too require proper accommodation — which needs regular cleaning — and they need adequate feeding with suitable food on a daily basis. Animals are not toys and should never be acquired without forethought and planning for their long-term care. They are never toys to be discarded after a week or two, when the children tire of them. Remember, they are living beings — just as we are ourselves — and should be treated with kindness and respect.

PATRICIA A GREEN, The Animal Welfare Network