KEY POINTS:
Bad jokes and paper hats are the standard Christmas cracker spoils but one woman got a more than she bargained for this year - a dead mouse.
Betty Lawrence was pulling Christmas crackers with her family in Invercargill shortly after Christmas dinner when she discovered a decaying rodent in one of a pack of eight crackers, the Southland Times reported.
"I had said to my granddaughter `what's that smell?' and we couldn't work it out until we pulled the cracker," Mrs Lawrence said.
She reported the event to police.
The Indonesia-manufactured crackers were part of a hamper supplied by supermarket operator New World through her bank, the Southland Credit Union. The crackers were branded Mayfaire.
New World's parent company, Foodstuffs, could not be contacted for comment by the Southland Times yesterday.
- NZPA
