I have received goldfish as gift when I was only six years old. They died because I overfed them. The second batch also died because there was no filter for the fish tank. Nobody taught me how to correctly taking care of pet fish back then.
Pets make terrible gifts in most cases. It takes more than just "pleasantly surprised" to be qualified pet owners. Each pet species has different needs and they require different care in order to stay alive and healthy. The bottom line is I do not believe in anyone should get a pet without doing some research first. Every day there are many pets ended up died in the hands of unqualified owners. Receiving pets as gifts probably have the worst of it.
The only case I can think of that it is ok to receive pets as gifts is when the parents who give their own kids pets, and teach the kids how to properly care for their new pets until they can do it right on their own. It requires the parents themselves to be qualified first by either have experience with this particular pet species or have done extensive research on the subject. It also requires the kid who is on the receiving end of the pet gift to be truly interested in having a pet and also willing to learn the proper care for the pet.
