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15. 10. 08. - 10:00

Giant toy rabbit spotted from space

A group of Austrian artists have made a giant pink toy rabbit in the Italian Alps can be seen via satellite from outer space.

The 200-foot long rabbit, knitted by Vienna-based art collective, Gelitin, was created as an outdoor sculpture, and was designed for visitors to climb on, sleep on, and play with.

Now the artists at Gelitin are delighted to note that the bunny can be seen via satellite on the internet by visitors to Google Earth.

The giant pink bunny that can be seen from space, thanks to satellite images from Google Earth

"Now even Google Maps is spotting the rabbit from outer-space," said a spokesperson from Gelitin.

The pale pink bunny took over five years to build. It is made of soft, waterproof, materials and stuffed with straw to make it comfortable to rest on.

It was placed in a rural spot called Artesina in the Italian alps near Cuneo and attracts many visitors each year.

Wolfgang Gantner of Gelitin said: "It's supposed to make you feel small, like Gulliver. You walk around it and you can't help but smile.

"We like to see hikers climb up the bunny's twenty foot sides and relax on his belly."

The Gelitin group have posted the rabbit's location on its website along with a poetic description in German Hase.

It reads: "Behind a hill, as if knitted by giant grandmothers, lies this vast rabbit, to make you feel as small as a daisy. Happy you feel as you climb up along its ears, almost falling into its cavernous mouth, to the belly-summit and look out over the pink woollen landscape of the rabbit's body, a country dropped from the sky; ears and limbs sneaking into the distance; from its side flowing heart, liver and intestines."

The rabbit was moved to the 1,800-metre-high Fava region in 2005 and will stay there as a public toy until 2025.

The group have been making whacky sculptures for over 10 years. In 2003, their Arc de Triomphe statue caused a storm in Salzburg with its naked man bent back double urinating in his own mouth.

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