Visitors wander across the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve on Sunday in Lancaster, California, the US where orange poppies are blooming. Wildflowers are exploding into color across California's once-parched hills this spring following a particularly wet winter season. Photo: AFP

Police officers visiting a village in East China's Anhui Province were surprised to find a roadside farmland filled with poppy plants, local news channel reported on Tuesday. 

After discovering this large area of budding poppy seedlings, the police immediately approached the owner of the farmland, an 87-year-old woman surnamed Zhang. She admitted that she had planted the poppies in the field for her livestock.

"I heard people say that poppy leaves can cure diarrhea in chickens, so I planted some poppies in my own farmland," explained Zhang.

Zhang was taken aback when the police informed her of the dangers and legal consequences of growing poppy plants. The police brought the all 21 plants away to be destroyed. The case is currently being further processed.

Global Times