Happy Chinese New Year 2011!

It is that time of the year again! Chinese New Year is around the corner and while the house has been springcleaned and the cookies made, I was only just reminded of the now stale news of the appeal made by some supposedly animal lovers to help rabbits in the year of the bunny. Apparently, teenagers and college students in China and elsewhere in Asia have picked up bunnies ahead of the New Year come this 3rd February. According to a certain activist, Maggie Chen from People of the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), one can help the rabbits by not supporting the pet trade as this will cause many animals to suffer. Rabbits are said to be high-maintenance animals which require significant resources, equipment, attention and veterinary care. Thai veterinarian Thosaporn Anuntakulnatee from the Faculty of Veterinary Science in Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University added that some people don't know how to take care of the rabbits and end up throwing them away in the wild or leaving them at temples. I suppose that could mean that the same could not be done to dogs and cats. Maybe, instead of trying to make pets out of bunnies, one should just pick up this idea from Sebastian Goh, the head chef of Szechuan Court, a restaurant in Singapore. The latter has specially created a spicy rabbit stew that includes other prized Chinese delicacies like abalone and dried scallops. Rabbit is seldom featured in Chinese cuisine but he thought that this would be an auspicious opportunity to introduce its meat to Chinese diners. Everyone seems to have such great thoughts!