The Year of the Rabbit.

Today begins the Chinese New Year. I am particularly interested this year because it is the year of the rabbit. A student of mine informs me that the rabbit is considered to be very lucky. According to the most recent viewing of a Chinese paper place mat, I was not born on a rabbit year. Apparently, I'm a horse and I don't really know what that means. It would be great to be born on a rabbit year but considering I could be a boar or a rat... I'll take the horse, that's fine.

NPR financial analysts stated that the year of the rabbit will be filled with "hops" in the stock market. Rabbits are gentle and kind creatures, so we should see some economic recovery amid the little hops throughout the year.

Children born this year will be good-natured, lucky, considerate, wise, serene, never aggressive, intelligent, and quick. Rabbits symbolize beauty. Of course. So, congrats to all you pregnant people. Great rabbit kids are on the way.

In finding out more info on the year of the rabbit, I uncovered something really sad. Many Chinese are buying rabbits to celebrate the new year and to have good luck but (as I fully well know) rabbit care is difficult so many rabbits are being abandoned or dying unnecessarily. There are not enough exotic pet vets in China to care for all the new bunnies... and they are breeding like, well, you know. There are even folks selling bunnies online and sending them in the mail in a plain box, causing the bunnies to die of starvation, overexposure to the cold, and lack of water. Rabbits are showing up dead in dumpsters throughout China. This should not be tolerated. Rabbits are our friends. PETA has something to say about this, right?

PETA issued a plea about the situation, “There’s no better time to help rabbits than during the Year of the Rabbit, and you can do so by refusing to support the pet trade that causes so many animals to suffer,” said Beijing-based PETA representative Maggie Chen.

“Rabbits aren’t just cute and fluffy, they are high-maintenance animals that require significant resources, equipment, attention and veterinary care,” Chen continued.

Protect the rabbits! Love your big eared, furry, hoppy friends! They need us to honor them rightly! Do it for Skip.