Animal head found in school canteen revealed to belong to a rabbit

A joint investigation has found that a so-called mouse head found at a primary school canteen in Huaihua, Hunan province actually belonged to a rabbit, according to a statement issued by local authorities on Sunday.

A primary school student at the Wushui Primary School in Huaihua's Hecheng district found the head when eating lunch at the school canteen on Tuesday. The student took the head home and parents took pictures and posted them on Douyin two days later, according to the statement.

After receiving reports, local education, public security and market regulation bureaus took samples of the food on Thursday under the witness of the student's parents.

Local authorities and a provincial food expert sent the two samples to a national food examination institution on Friday and the reports showed that the samples belong to a rabbit and not a mouse.

The investigation team also talked with teachers, students, parents and canteen staff, and found that the school cooked a rabbit dish on Wednesday.

The investigation found that the abnormal item in the pictures was the head and mouth of a rabbit, not a mouse. However, the canteen staff did not remove all of the hair and teeth of the rabbit, leading to the confusion, the statement said.