[The1calledTKE]

LONDON (Reuters) - Local officials in Britain were reported to be furious after road workers apparently painted a white line on the side of a highway right over the furry body of a dead badger.

Britain's Sun newspaper on Tuesday splashed a photo of the badger across half a page, saying the picture was taken by a passerby who saw it on the side of the highway in Somerset, southwestern England.

The freshly-painted white line at the road's edge went right over the dead animal's back.

"This is totally unacceptable and we will be asking for an explanation," the paper quoted a local government spokesman as saying.

The lines were painted by an independent contractor, he said.