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Miejsce Odrzanskie is a village with about 300 people. Photo: Slawomir Milejski

For 12 years, only girls have been born in this Polish village. Now its mayor is offering a reward for the first baby boy

  • Mayor Rajmund Frischko won’t give details on incentive, but promises gift will be ‘attractive’
  • Genetics expert from Medical University of Warsaw has agreed to look into situation at Miejsce Odrzanskie, home to about 300 people
Poland

A whole town is perplexed as to why no boys have been born there in more than a decade.

The mayor felt compelled to offer an incentive to parents to keep trying for a male.

“For my part, I have decided to reward the parents of the first boy born,” said Rajmund Frischko, the mayor of Miejsce Odrzanskie, a village of about 300 people in south Poland, reported English-language news site The First News.

“I will not reveal exactly how, but I assure you that the gift will be attractive.”

Tomasz Golasz, head of the village volunteer fire brigade, which is staffed primarily by women, recalled that the last boy born to the small Polish town was 12 years ago.

“I came to the village, took a local girl for my wife and we had two daughters. I would like to have a son but it’s probably unrealistic. My neighbour also tried and has two daughters.” he said. “I don’t think women give birth to boys here.”

Mayor Frischko, the father of two girls, began exploring birth certificates to find out if the spate of girl babies was a recent anomaly.

“I think that what the older residents say is confirmed,” he said. “Girls are constantly born and the birth of boys is rare. Explaining this puzzle will not be easy.”

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The head of the Department of Medical Genetics at the Medical University of Warsaw heard about the village predicament and agreed to look into it.

Professor Rafal Ploski told The First News it starts with a deep dive into birth certificates, followed by confirming that a child’s parents are not related to each other – even distantly.

“The next step, conduct an accurate interview with parents and children, check the environmental conditions. Only then can some trail appear,” Ploski said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Village where only girls have been born for a dozen years offers reward for boy hasMayor 'attractive'first
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