A VILLAGER in West China's Shaanxi Province buried village funds amounting to over 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) in a sheep pen and found the money being consumed by goats, the Xi'an Daily reported Tuesday (Aug 22).

The man, surnamed Zhang who is a cashier with the village committee in Linjiawan Village, Jingbian County, was stunned to see 10 of his goats chewing the money.

He slaughtered the goats and anxiously put together the torn notes.

"We are considering exchanging more damaged notes for Zhang and will treat it as a special case after reporting the incident to superiors, in view of reducing farmers' economic burden," Li Shengyang, director of the currency issuance section of the People's Bank of China Hengshan County branch, said.

The money Zhang concealed underground in the sheep pen was paid by the government to individuals as compensation for a project transporting natural gas which passes through Linjiawan Village and occupies some village fields.

Zhang put the cash to be delivered to fellow villagers in plastic bags and secretly buried them.

With the help of his relatives and friends, Zhang has now raised 100,000 yuan and paid it back to the village committee.

Zhang is now waiting for the bank's reply about how much he can get back.

Editor: Wing