A conservative Nebraska lawmaker has hurriedly backtracked on comments he had made in a legislative debate earlier on Monday, in which he’d called for an investigation into “furries” in schools. Speaking from the state Senate floor, Bruce Bostelman said he was “a little shocked” that schools were providing litter boxes for demanding children who self-identity as animals. (They are not, but the baseless rumor has inexplicably persisted across state lines in recent months regardless.) “They meow and they bark and they interact with their teachers in this fashion,” Bostelman said during the debate, over a bill meant to provide help to students with behavioral problems. “How can schools allow this to happen?” His comments quickly drew scathing derision on social media, as well as emphatic denials from Nebraska school officials, who called such remarks “ridiculous” and “ugly.” Hours later, Bostelman said that he had looked into the matter, and confirmed that the debunked story was in fact untrue. “It was just something I felt that if this really was happening,” he said, according to the Associated Press, “we needed to address it and address it quickly.”