N.Korea to solve starvation with giant bunnies

[[R-CON]MrD]

Gues these guys haven't seen Watership Down

N Korea hungry for German bunnies
By Steve Rosenberg
BBC News, Eberswalde, eastern Germany

Take a tour of Karl Szmolinsky's garden, and you will soon see something rather odd going on in this, the most mysterious of backyards.


Karl Szmolinsky
Karl Szmolinsky: Entrepreneur with a comradely touch

For a start, what other garden do you know of that has thousands of stale bread rolls in sacks gracing the flowerbeds?

Edge on past the sprawling potato patch and the sheds full of brightly coloured tweety birds, and you will find yourself face-to-face with 20 giant cages.

The 67-year-old pensioner opens one of the cage doors to reveal what looks at first glance to be a dog. It is certainly big enough. But a dog with floppy ears and whiskers?!

No, this is a monster bunny, a King Kong of the Rabbit World, weighing in at 10kg (22 pounds), with ears that look as tall as the Reichstag.

Growing demand

Karl has been Germany's top rabbit breeder for years; but now his fame has spread 11,340 km (7,000 miles) east.

"Last October I got a call from the North Korean embassy," Karl says.


Robert the rabbit
Robert: A pedigree with a hearty appetite

"They told me they wanted to come to see my rabbits. They wanted to buy them, so they could breed big bunnies back home to feed their population.

"When the officials turned up on my doorstep, their eyes popped out of their sockets at the sight of my rabbits. I'm so proud that my bunnies will help feed the North Korean people."

One of the rabbits called Robert devours a cabbage leaf and starts snacking on my microphone.

Karl has already sold his first batch of bunnies to Pyongyang. The North Koreans are counting on these giants to ease the nation's hunger.

Monster appetite

Trouble is, to breed them big, you need plenty of food in the first place.


Karl and Robert


I'm so proud that my bunnies will help feed the North Korean people
Karl Szmolinsky

I convince Karl to reveal the secret of his success. He leads me deep underground into his basement to an Aladdin's cave full of kitchens and storerooms.

This is the nerve centre of the breeding operation, where Karl slaves over a hot stove from morning till night preparing food for 20 rabbits, each with a monster appetite.

"I treat my rabbits to a special menu," explains Karl. "I feed them different meals three times a day, food like potatoes, bio-parsley, shredded grain and plenty of water. As the Germans say, treat them well, and they'll grow swell!"

The food Karl adds to their food is designed to boost the rabbits' appetite and make them grow even bigger.

Long tradition

As I watch Karl mixing up his latest concoction, his eyes sparkling like a mad professor, I cannot help feeling there is something rather unsavoury about the whole process.


Robert the bunny and a microphone
When the lettuce is gone a microphone looks like a nice snack

After all, bunnies are supposed to be cuddly pets, aren't they? Not made into rabbit pie? That, says Karl, is hypocritical.

"Some people say it is wrong to kill rabbits. That is rubbish. In East Germany lots of people bred rabbits for the meat, as well as for the fur to make hats and gloves."

You can tell that Karl is nostalgic for the communist past and life in the GDR, when rabbit-breeding was encouraged to help citizens supplement their income.

Perhaps that is why Karl is so proud that today his bunnies, like Robert, are bound for North Korea - to help one of the last bastions of communism in the world.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

Well
LMAO
Enterpreneurship from a former communist to a current communist.
Down with capitalism...... LMAO

[Army Musician]

thats cruel

[trogdor1289]

No more cruel than doing the same thing with Cows and pigs.

[RikiRude]

I think he means to the koreans.


What makes rabbits earier to breed and such then cows or oxen or something?

[[R-DEV]Eddie Baker]

I think we all know Mr Kim's real interest in these rabbits . . .

[Griffon2-6]

Originally Posted by Army Musician

thats cruel

LOL! Nice one, Musician.

[[R-CON]MrD]

This is a followup.

Apparently the N.Koreans have already eaten the bunnies they got for breeding! Guess their greedy eyes and salivating mouths couldn't wait for the rapidly replicating bunnies to get on with the process naturally and spawn enough of the furry things to make a dent in their food needs.

The German breeder who sold 12 German Gray Giant rabbits to North Korea believes the planned breeding programme may have been canned after communist officials tucked into the oversized bunnies.

German pensioner Karl Szmolinsky was approached back in January by the North Korean embassy in Berlin after "attracting attention for breeding his country's largest rabbit". Szmolinsky subsequently supplied eight females and four males at £60 a head which were packed off to North Korea. Szmolinsky explained: "They want to boost meat production. They've arranged for me to go to Pyongyang in April to advise them on setting up a breeding farm."

However, Szmolinsky says the trip has now been cancelled, and suspects "it may be because communist officials have eaten the rabbits", according to The Telegraph. He admitted: "That's an assumption, not an assertion. But they're not getting any more. I think the animals aren't alive any more. I was due to go and inspect the animals and look at the facility. They kept delaying the trip. I would have liked to go."

Stressing his unilateral rabbit export embargo, Szmolinsky added: "North Korea won't be getting anything from me any more, they shouldn't even bother asking."

The North Korean embassy in Berlin has denied the rabbit feast claim. A spokesman said: "The rabbits aren't intended to be eaten, they are for breeding purposes."

A fully-fattened German Gray Giant can provide up to 15lb of meat - much-needed protein for a famine-stricken land. The Telegraph did spot one potentially fatal flaw in the breeding masterplan, though: since the monster rabbits are "voracious eaters", just how did the Pyongyang authorities intend to feed the beasts? ®

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

Well I think that [censored-------------------] which clearly shows that [censored--------------------] and that's all I have to say.