No, this isn’t a headline stolen from the Onion.

Jennifer Kabbany at The College Fix has the story:

Rabbits given Swedish massages at Ohio State in $387,000 taxpayer-funded study

Ohio State University used a $387,000 National Institutes of Health grant to study the benefits of Swedish massages on bunny rabbits.

No, this is not a joke.

This absurdly stupid waste of taxpayer dollars was brought to light by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn’s most recent “Wastebook” edition, where he and his staff every year chronicle the unethical and asinine ways in which our government blows taxpayers’ hard-earned cash.

No. 2 on the list is titled “Swedish Massages for Rascally Rabbits.”

“In this I will not compromise,” notes Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass. “There is nothing more stupid in the history of wasteful federal spending than giving my money — and yours — so rabbits can get a Swedish foot massage.”

Coburn, in an interview with Kass, agrees.

“Look, I understand what the science is behind that,” Coburn said. “We all know that if you massage a muscle, you get rid of the lactic acid out of it. It’s stuff we already know.”