Tag Archives: Easter Bilby

17

The Do’s and Don’ts of a Happy Easter

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Greetings, everyone! Easter is tomorrow and we’re here with some last-minute tips to share with your human to ensure you have the best Easter ever!

100 Easter Cats ideas | easter cats, cats, easter

Easter Eggs

We don’t like chocolate and chocolate doesn’t like us. It contains something called theobromine that causes problems with our hearts and nervous systems. So NO chocolate eggs for us. On the other hand, those hard plastic eggs are really cool. You can put pieces of kibble in them. They make noise when when chase them around the house. When we finally break them open – VOILA! – a food puzzle has been solved!

Or even better – just give a couple of our favorite treats.

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Easter Plants

Easter lilies are extremely toxic to kitties. Even eating a couple of leaves can be deadly. There is no safe part of this plant as far as we are concerned. Too bad, because they really are pretty and some humans seem to be particularly fond of them this time of year. Please tell your human to also avoid bringing in daffodils (our human’s favorite), tulips, hyacinths, or daisies. They all can make us extremely sick or even kill us. Also on the no-no list are cyclamen and amaryllis.

We recommend silk flowers if your human wants some extra color around the house for the holiday. Or maybe something more feline-friendly like roses, gerber daisies, sunflowers, orchids, snapdragons, or freesia.

Create an Easter Basket for your Cat | Pictures of Cats | Easter cats, Cat pics, Easter pictures

Easter Basket

In addition to avoiding chocolate, make sure you don’t eat any raisins. We cats are sensitive to grapes, and raisins are just wrinkly grapes. On the other hand, Easter grass looks really yummy, but is not. It’s really just strings of plastic. The plastic can irritate our digestive systems or even cause a blockage. Blockages are really bad – they usually require surgery to fix.

Tell your human that if they want to give you a basket, it should be lined with catnip or cat grass. Good gifts include catnip bunnies, felt eggs, and egg-shaped treat dispensers. A new blanket is always welcome too.

This Cat Went Viral Because He Learned To Beg In A Way That Melts People's Hearts | Bored Panda

Easter Dinner

Easter dinner smells so yummy! Ham is really good, but it’s full of fat. So if you do score some, make sure to enjoy it in moderation. And avoid the garlic and onions. They can both be toxic to cats. And do not let silly humans make you drink alcohol. It is not good for cats! (And you’ve probably seen how stupid it can make humans act.)

A better holiday dinner is to convince your human to get you some luxury cat food. Or gourmet cat soup. Lobster bisque is a favorite around here.

20 Sleeping Cats Who Take Naptime to a Whole New Level | BeChewy

Easter Guests

Make sure your human remembers that having people over is stressful for you too. It might be nice to get extra pets and cuddles, but strange people bring strange sounds and smells which can be hard on us. And sometimes a cat just wants to get away and be a cat.

Remind your human to keep a safe space for you where you can get away from the humans and relax. A nice quiet place to hide and take a nap away from everything going on.

Easter Bunny - Wiktionary

Just Something Interesting

While we were looking up stuff on the Internet, we found lots of information about the Easter Bunny. We were hoping for find some kind of Easter Cat, but no such luck. However, we did find three other animals. We knew about the Easter Bilby (we even wrote about him here.) He brings treats to children in Australia.

But did you know that children in Switzerland get treats from the Easter Cuckoo? They go on a hunt Easter morning for colored eggs and chocolate eggs left by the large bird. And in Germany, some children leave a nest of moss and hay for the Easter Fox who leaves them treats to find on Easter morning.

We still think an Easter Cat would be very cool.

50 Cats/Easter ideas | cats, easter cats, crazy cats
Pictures courtesy of Google Images
18

Happy Easter Billy Bilby!

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Image result for easter bilby

We’d like to introduce you to a special animal, the Easter Bilby. He’s a celebrity in Australia although he may be less known by some of you. The Easter Bilby is busy this time of year, so we’re going to talk to a close friend.

Billy Bilby, welcome to Cheeseland. Thank you for taking the time to introduce us to the Easter Bilby.

No worries, I’m happy to be here and spread the word about the Easter Bilby. After all, we bilbies are having a problem with our population declining and want people to be aware that we even exist.

Image result for bilby

On that note, can you tell us a little bit about bilbies?

We’re small, furry marsupials who live in the desert. Our bodies are about 55 cm/22 inches long and our tails about 29 cm/11.5 inches. We weigh about 2.5 kg/5.5 pounds. We have long noses (excellent sense of smell) and large ears (excellent sense of hearing and help keep us cool). The ladies are about half the size of the gents.

We have extremely soft fur that is mainly blue-grey with white tummies. Bilbies live in fancy burrows. We only come out and night and will eat anything.

Two fun facts about bilbies?

The word bilby is from the Aboriginal Yuwaalaraay language. (I wouldn’t try to pronounce it unless you belong to the group.)

We don’t drink water. We get all we need from what we eat.  (Like koalas)

So how did the Easter Bilby replace the Easter Rabbit in Australia?

Unfortunately, rabbits are not very popular in Australia. They were brought in by the Brits in the 19th century and reproduced until they had taken over the country. Rabbits drove some of the native animals and plants to extinction.

In the 1990’s, the humans decided that the rabbit had to go as the symbol of Easter. They wanted something native to replace it. Since we look something like a rabbit (ears only), we got the job. We’ve been around Australia for a very long time.

Image result for no rabbits allowed sign

And the tradition has stuck.

Yes, but we’ve lost the association with the anti-rabbit people. Now it’s more of a survival issue. You see, we’re endangered in some parts of Australia and vulnerable in others.

That’s awful. What happened?

The usual: loss of habitat, hunting. I am actually a Greater Bilby. There used to be Lesser Bilbies, but they died out about 70 years ago. (Unless the humans lost them.)

Image result for bilbies

Is the Easter Bilby tradition working?

It seems to be. There is much greater awareness of who we are and why we are important residents of Australia. In fact, The Commonwealth of Australian Endangered Species Program has chosen us as a mascot, so we’re becoming famous.

They have even started to introduce populations of us into places that haven’t seen bilbies in a very long time. Did you know that we once populated 70% of Australia? And that’s a big place!

Image result for bilbies

What does the Easter Bilby do?

Pretty much what the Easter Bunny does. Except he delivers chocolate bilbies instead of chocolate rabbits. And he runs rather than hops.

Do you think the idea of the Easter Bilby will spread?

Probably not. The rabbits pretty much have a lock on the market. But that’s OK. We only live in Australia and want to continue living here for a very long time. We have no plans to invade Britain.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

I’m happy to share.

Image result for easter bilbies

Trivia – In March 1968, 9-year-old Rose-Marie Dusting wrote “Billy the Aussie Easter Bilby.” She published it 11 years later.

Sales Pitch: Chocolate bilbies are produced by Pink Lady and Haigh’s Chocolates. (Cadbury pulled out of the market shortly before Easter.) The companies give a percentage of sales to conservation efforts. Pink Lady parent company, Fyna Foods manufactures chocolate bilbies as part of the Australian Bush Friends Easter chocolates. A percentage of the Bush Friends sales is also donated to the Save the Bilby Fund.