The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen suspended 14 police officers and put a police chief under investigation on Tuesday on suspicion of feasting on an endangered giant salamander, state media reported.
The officers allegedly were consuming the animal, the world's largest amphibian, at a seafood restaurant, the state-backed Shenzhen Daily reported on Tuesday. The giant salamander can grow as long as 180 cm (6 feet).
China's leadership has called for Communist Party cadres and officials to forgo elaborate banquets and pricey junkets as it works to clamp down on government excess. Corruption, as well as a yawning gap between the rich and the poor, is a central source of public discontent with the ruling party.