Southern States - Karnataka   

Rabbits did not fight shy of `census'

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore July 24. The Government seems to have succeeded in perhaps the most difficult of census operations — counting the number of the nimble and shy rabbits.

When the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, M. Mahadev, came out with an ex cathedra figure for the number of rabbits in Karnataka — 23,000 — in the Legislative Assembly today, even the Speaker, M.V. Venkatappa, could not be convinced about the figure.

Mr. Venkatappa plunged the House into laughter by questioning the veracity of the figure, and asking as to what means the Government employed to count them. Mr. Mahadev, who is known for his sense of humour, was speaking with authority, and what he said about the rabbits was not a guesstimate. The figures he furnished related to 1997, and he did not mention whether the number related to rabbits in the wild, or those which were pets and part of households, or those reared for their meat.

When the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, D.B. Chandre Gowda, said that many farmers in his native Chikmagalur District were rearing rabbits, the BJP member, Araga Jnanendra, said rabbit rearing was being given up as there was no encouragement from the Government.

The cattle census figures furnished by the minister put the number of cows in the State at 108.31 lakh, buffaloes 43.67 lakh, sheep 80.03 lakh, goats 48.75 lakh, pigs 4.05 lakh, dogs 21.39 lakh, and other animals 45,000. It was silent on the number of horses, which are easy to count, as most of them are draught animals. There was no guess regarding donkeys, considered the most neglected animal. Most of them have been rendered unemployed after washermen discarded them for autorickshaws in the urban areas.

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