In these days of over-population and food shortages, a Japanese woman has come up with the idea of giving birth to animals instead of human babies - and then eating them! And she thinks sharks would be the perfect starting point...
In Ai Hasegawa's project is called "I Wanna Deliver a Shark…" She explains: "We are genetically predisposed to raise children as a way of passing on our genes to the next generation but we live in an age where the struggle to raise a child in decent conditions is becoming harder with gross over-population and difficult environmental conditions.
"We must also eat, and we are equally facing growing food shortages as a result of over-fishing, land use and a growing population. By giving birth to an edible animal it might place more value on that endangered species and help prevent its extinction."
It sounds bizarre, but the 33-year-old designer thinks humans giving birth to animals will be possible in the future. She told VICE.com the uterus could be used as an 'aquarium' and that a shark would be ideal because "they're endangered, their lifespan is almost as long as that of a human, and most importantly, they're delicious."
She says the only drawback would be that in order to carry an animal foetus the woman would have to take medication to prevent menstruation and that can cause unpleasant side effects.
Ai goes on to say that the baby shark could be returned to the sea after it's born for a time to get the 'wild' flavour we're used to. And when it came to eating it, you wouldn't feel so guilty.
She says she'd also like to give birth to a dolphin. "I love a good piece of dolphin meat on my plate, but I feel bad for eating an endangered animal." If the dolphin was her 'baby' she would track it with a GPS device after its release into the sea and if it was sold at a market she would make sure she bought and ate it, so she could have it back inside her body one last time
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