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July 25, 2008 4:12:45 PM CDT

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Giant Bunnies Hit Silver Screen

Posted Feb 18, 08 12:10 PM CST in Arts & Living,  World 

(Newser) – Giant bunnies overran the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, reports Der Spiegel—in the form of a 5-minute documentary on the international intrigue that ensued when a German rabbit breeder sent a dozen of his 20-pounders to North Korea to be bred to help alleviate hunger. Instead, they met a tragic end as part of a birthday feast for playboy-dictator Kim Jong Il.

American filmmaker Johan Onah spent just 4 hours with breeder Karl Szmolinsky, discussing the fall of the Berlin Wall, the ill-fated Korean program, and harassing phone calls from animal rights activists. Szmolinsky, who breeds rabbits the size of small dogs in his spare time, says the 12 the North Koreans ate could have produced 60 more a year, and each could have fed eight people.

Source Der Spiegel

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  • Kim Jong-Il Ate My Giant Bunnies!

    Apr 5, 07 9:24 AM CDT
    Kim Jong-Il Ate My Giant Bunnies! Karl Szmolinsky sent giant rabbits to North Korea to alleviate hunger, and Kim Jong-Il ate them. The German rabbit farmer suspects that the twelve "German Grey Giants" he sent to the country were eaten at a birthday banquet for the dictator instead of being used in a breeding program as he'd planned. More »

This YouTube screenshot shows Karl Szmolinsky holding one of his giant rabbits.   (YouTube)
Unfortunately, it turns out North Korean officials ate all the giant bunnies sent to them before they could breed or help feed the poor.   (YouTube)
Hippity-hoppity: Karl Szmolinksky's giant rabbits did go toward feeding the hungry in North Korea... just not the poor he'd envisioned.   (Getty Images)
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North Korea  • Kim Jong Il  • Berlin Film Festival  • East Germany  • rabbits  • giant rabbits  • Karl Szmolinsky


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