This little girl has found a way around rising fuel prices by riding an ostrich to school.

The schoolgirl, not named in local media, lives in Dali, in south-western China’s Yunnan Province, where she was filmed by a local as she was calmly carried to school by the large bird.

It can be seen that the two were joined by a man who led the bird and made sure it behaved.

As the two reach the school’s entrance, the girl covers the bird’s side vision with her hands – presumably to lead it to where it needs to go.

The ostrich starts tapping its feet in what appears to be a pleasure that they reached their destination, and the duo then walk into class together.

And as soon as its young owner gets off at her stop, the bird obediently walks back outside.

The footage quickly spread across Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok – and caused heated debates among netizens.

While some found the situation clever and hilarious, others expressed concern about a large ostrich being let loose in the street and being a potential safety hazard.

Users were uneasy that the bird might become frightened and run around, causing injury.

But it seems there was not much to be worried about as the ostrich was composed and even appeared to be enjoying having the girl saddled on its back.

This was not the first case in China where a child rode to class on an ostrich.

Other pieces of footage show another little girl travelling on a large bird’s back on her first day of school.

The amusing footage, which was shot in the coastal province of Shandong, shows a woman leading the ostrich down the street with the girl on its back.

The unnamed woman in black is seen walking carefully next to the big bird in a high street and controlling the ostrich as slow-moving cars follow behind.

The little girl is dressed all in pink with a pink rucksack, and she seems happy.

And the ostrich appears to be wearing some kind of hood, possibly to avoid it being scared by loud noises.