High Priest of Cthunigghiu (the sleeping god, an evil italian chocolate rabbit)
And keeper of the Purple Potato Gnocchi.
It is said that his Mountain of Pasta is impregnable.
Do you know what horrors lie within?
Raccoon dogs. Rabbits as big as dogs. And a secret cult of "mad Arab" monks tormenting chickens.
From USA Today:
Hungry North Koreans to breed world's biggest bunniesNorth Korea, plagued by years of food shortages and crippling economic sanctions, is putting its money on rabbits as big as dogs.
ABC's Nightline says the hermit kingdom recently bought 12 "giant rabbits" from a German breeder whose 22-pounder was named "Germany's Biggest Rabbit" last year.
The breeder told The (London) Times "he believed that the monster bunny program ... was aimed at feeding the North Korean people rather than the 'Dear Leader,' Kim Jong Il, who is said to favor lobster."
Each rabbit provides 15 pounds of meat, including the internal organs, but the animals reproduce so fast it is conceivable that the North Koreans could be producing thousands of pounds of meat in no time.
"If North Koreans breed the animals correctly, the 12 they already have could multiply to more than 1 million in just eight years," Nightline notes.
Reuters has video of the super-sized bunnies.
Based on an investigation by the Humane Society of the United States, several major retailers are pulling coats made in China because alleged "faux" rabbit fur trim actually is dog fur, while other coats labeled as "raccoon" or "rabbit" are really made from raccoon dogs that are skinned alive (Warning: graphic images). Other coats are mislabeled or unlabeled with fur from the raccoon dog, a canine cousin.
PETA calls 'fowl' on monasteryThe headline on the website of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it all: Tell Christian Monks to Stop Torturing Birds!
Monks at Mepkin Abbey, a monastery in Moncks Corner, S.C., raise chickens for a commercial egg-harvesting operation. According to the AP, PETA claims the monks "crammed thousands of chickens into small cages and periodically starved them to increase egg production."
The New York Times quotes the Rev. Stanislaus Gumual, the abbot of Mepkin Abbey, as saying, “This hurts so much.”
"They’re happy chickens. They’re being treated nicely," he told the Times.
Gumual said the caging beat the alternative. “When they are on the floor, they are subjected to all sorts of parasites and bacteria that are around,” he said. “They walk in their own manure. They walk in their troughs.”
Monks gather about 17,000 eggs daily and sometimes sing to the birds, he told the Times.
There's more on the topic on PETA's website -- including a video -- and in the Times. "On these supposedly peaceful grounds, our investigator found 38,000 chickens confined in a living hell," the video states.