After the Easter rush, a lot of unwanted temporary pets given as gifts of Easter - rabbits and maybe some other small animals - will either be unkindly abandoned outdoors to try to survive (domestic animals like this will struggle to survive in the wild, particularly in a warm climate) or neglected if they pose as a one-time thrill to their recipients, usually small children who need to learn better from their parents, who may not know better.
Pet stores need to take responsibility and tell all of their customers the things they need to know if they are to buy a chinchilla, guinea pig, bird or rabbit. Tell them that chinchillas are very easily susceptible to heat stroke, can die in temperatures over 80 degrees, need to live in a climate 64 to 74 degrees - as in get air conditioning. Anything above and they will succumb to heat stroke. And if you let a pet chinchilla go outdoors on its own, you won't see it again.
Please do not abandon small pets. Take them to the animal shelter. They have overnight holding kennels and no one will even know you did it, if it's that big of a deal to you.
Ellen Garrison
Lahaina
