ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />South Africa's government is up in arms over a bronze rabbit crafted inside the ear of a large statue of former president Nelson Mandela unveiled last month.<br/> <br />The government said it wanted the creature removed to "restore integrity" to the 9-meter (30 foot) bronze sculpture of the anti-apartheid hero, who died on December 5 at the age of 95.<br/> <br />The statue, the world's biggest representing Mandela, was inaugurated at South Africa's government buildings 11 days after his death.<br/> <br />Artists Ruhan Janse van Vuuren and Andre Prinsloo say they added the animal, its ears erect, as a personal stamp after the government stopped them from engraving signatures on their 4.5 ton statue, and as a nod to the tight deadline they faced.<br/> <br />The Afrikaans word for rabbit, "haas," also means haste.<br/> <br />The artists have since apologized.<br/> <br />The hidden rabbit was only discovered last week by the Afrikaans language Beeld newspaper, a month after the s
