China zoo showing off hairy dog as lion
17 Aug Beijing Youth Daily
A Chinese zoo's supposed 'African lion' was exposed as a fraud when
the dog used as a substitute started barking. The zoo in the People's
Park of Luohe, in the province of Henan, replaced exotic exhibits with
common species, according to the state-run Beijing Youth Daily. It
quoted a customer surnamed Liu who wanted to show her son the different
sounds animals made but he pointed out that the animal in the cage
labelled 'African lion' was barking. The beast was in fact a Tibetan
mastiff a large and long-haired breed of dog. "The zoo is absolutely
cheating us," the paper quoted Liu, who was charged $2.45 for the
ticket, as saying. "They are trying to disguise the dogs as lions."
Three other species housed incorrectly included two coypu rodents in
a snake's cage, a white fox in a leopard's den, and another dog in a
wolf pen. The chief of the park's animal department, Liu Suya, told the
paper that while it does have a lion, it had been taken to a breeding
facility and the dog which belonged to an employee had been temporarily
housed in the zoo over safety concerns.
Users of China's Twitterlike Sina Weibo service mocked the zoo. "This
is not funny at all. It's sad for both the zoo and the animals," said
one.
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