Giant German rabbits exported to North Korea

I first came across this story about three weeks ago but didn't post it up to TT because I thought it was too lame (yes, even for TT). In the meantime, however, the same story has now had done the rounds on Spiegel, BBC, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and even Slashdot.

Some guy in Finsterwalde, a small town between Berlin and Dresden, has been breeding giant rabbits for the last 43 years. Recently the North Korean government paid him a visit and bought eight of the rabbits off him. Supposedly the Koreans think they can breed them to provide food for their starving nation. Rabbit breeder Karl Szmolinsky is off to Pjöngjang this April in order to pass on his knowledge.

Deceptive photography

Looking at the photos you might think that these rabbits are the same size as a human torso. But they're not. The photographs are all deliberately deceptive. How much does an average human torso weigh? Around 30kg to 50kg? In fact, these rabbits weigh about 10kg. They're large, but they're not the Wallace and Gromit were-rabbit.

Dude I don't even think Kate Moss weighs less than 30kg. 30kg is on the point of death thin for an adult. Also I weigh 95kgs so thanks for callin me fat.

Parnell, it's just the torso he's referring to. Makes sense, torso of about 40kg, arms at about 6kg each, legs at about 12kg each and about 6kg for a head.

I wondered about the pics because in all the ones I've seen the rabbits' heads look larger than the guy's, which can't be right.

Ah ok, cut off the legs and head - Jeffrey Dahmer style - ok Kate Moss is safely in the range then. Thnx.

Apparently Jeffery Dahmer was a smoker. They found a bunch of butts behind his couch, and some fags in the kitchen drawer.

I wanna know how they do that... I'm still very naiive when it comes to doctoring photos but I think it's cool.

Jeez, the fecal pellets must be the size of cricket balls.

Woohoo, I beat Bob.

Ask bluedave what they weigh, he's holding up the one on the right.

saw Spiegel TV a few nights ago when this was on...the rabbits are big fukkaz but not as big as a regular human dude. unless the breeder is a midget maybe who has teeny tiny rabbit cages.

I can see the headline now: "Midget german rabbit fancier hailed as Dear Breeder by happy Korean crowds."

Bern, the photos are not digitally doctored. Rather, when taking the photo they hold the camera at a certain distance and angle such that objects close to the lens look much larger than those in the background. It probably involves some kind of wide-angle lens as well, or something. I'm no expert either. But as I say, it's not quite the same as a photoshop job.

Slightly off topic .. but is'nt there some kind of embargo restricting exports to North Korea ? Is it legal for the fella to send his super-rabbits over there ?
Btw, would'nt it make more sense for the N. Koreans to eat their Dear Leader instead of these poor bunnies. (I recommend a slow roast ..)

Wow! Just goes to show that the media can rarely be trusted. To get the lense/opical effects bob is talking about you would have to choose a special lense and take the picture exactly right. Photoshop or trick camera-work it is definately intentional.

Look at the farmer's hand in the photograph on the right. Definately out of proportion.

Tiergarten_Tom