Easter Bunny blues: Pet rabbits need lots of love

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Aside from inspiring many people to dye eggs, the Easter Bunny is also cited as responsible for many ill-fated rabbit adoptions this season. Although the Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society MCRS reports that the number of rabbits surrendered to shelters in MN has gone down lately (approximately 700 in 2012 instead of 1000 in years past), there are still many rabbits lacking good homes due to their failure to live up to certain expectations.Luke Stultz, President of MCRS, summarized the problem, saying “People don’t realize they’re more work than a cat or a dog.” MCRS Marketing and Public Relations Volunteer Shelly Chirhart concurred, calling rabbits, “High maintenance pets,” but added, “They do make wonderful pets, but you’ve gotta spend a fair amount of time with them.”This past year MCRS took in 64 surrendered rabbits from other organizations and adopted out 54. To help prevent folks from adopting rabbits and then finding them to fall short of their expectations, MCRS hosts free Bunny Basics classes for prospective rabbit owners every month at the Animal Humane Society in their Woodbury and Golden Valley locations. MCRS also invites the public to attend Hoppy Hour every other Sunday for rabbit socialization. Continue Reading

St. Paul fire hydrants make great pets

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Adopt a fire hydrant today.  They make excellent pets because you don’t have to feed them or walk them.  Fire hydrants get buried in the snow and that makes it harder for the wonderful folks at the St. Paul fire department to hook up a hose so they can put out fires.  It will be your job to clear the snow around the fire hydrant that you adopt.  In addition you can put a hat on it and give it a name.   Continue Reading

Why worrying about technology really matters

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Last Sunday the Star Tribune editorial board pondered the question “What should we really fear?” The editorial flowed from a question originally posed by John Brockman, editor of Edge.com. whom the writers describe as “the uber literary agent, cultural impresario and best friend to the world’s smartest people.” Though I was not on Brockman’s list of gurus the question (originally posed as ‘what should we worry about?’) has intrigued me all week. Continue Reading