Venezuelans told to eat rabbits instead of keeping as pets

  • President Maduro has invented a ‘rabbit plan’ to help with country’s food crisis
  • He is encouraging people to view the animals as protein instead of pets 
  • Roughly three quarters of Venezuelans have lost an average of 8.7kg in weight due to the country’s economic crisis

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has invented a ‘rabbit plan’ where he is encouraging residents to start viewing rabbits as protein instead of pets in order to tackle the country’s food shortage.

Attempting to justify his reasoning, on state television he said: ‘For animal protein, which is such an important issue, a “rabbit plan” has been approved because rabbits also breed like rabbits.’

Blaming the economic crisis for the measure, the president told Venezuelans to look at it ‘from the point of view of the economic war’ and said people need to understand ‘that the rabbit is not a pet, but two and a half kilos of meat with high protein and no cholesterol put on the table of Venezuelans.’

‘Rabbit plan’: Rabbits innocently eating cabbage, unaware of the plan President Maduro has made 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who has devised the 'rabbit plan' as a form of protein for his people 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who has devised the ‘rabbit plan’ as a form of protein for his people 

According to the BBC, the leader did however say that the ‘rabbit plan’ had not got off to a good start and, Freddy Bernal, the minister of urban agriculture, labelled it as a ‘cultural problem’.

Rabbit kittens had been handed to 15 communities as a trial and given to Bernal to manage as a project.

Bernal commented: ‘When he [President Maduro] came back, to his surprise he found people had put little bows on their rabbits and were keeping them as pets, it was an early setback to Plan Rabbit.’

‘A lot of people gave names to the rabbits, they took them to bed.’

A couple walking by a graffiti reading "We Are Hungry" and "Maduro Dictator

A couple walking by a graffiti reading ‘We Are Hungry’ and ‘Maduro Dictator

Why is Venezuela facing a crisis? 

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserve in the world and has historically relied a lot on imports for food and other staple items. However, with oil prices dipping, the government’s capital has taken a turn for the worse.

Although the government has tried to encourage urban agriculture, it has not been anywhere near enough. 

According to the BBC, a survey carried out earlier this year suggested that approximately three quarters of Venezuelans lost an average of 8.7kg in weight due to the economic crisis.

 

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