15/08
14:12 CET
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 central 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 15 yuan ($2.45) for the ticket, as saying. “They are trying
to disguise the dogs as lions.”
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 Twitter-like Sina Weibo service mocked the
zoo.
“This is not funny at all. It’s sad for both the zoo and the
animals,” said one.
“They should at least use a husky to pretend to be a wolf,” said
another.
Credit photo CC BY Flickr/istolethetv http://eurone.ws/16o8UN8
Video about the liondog:
http://www.euronews.com/2013/08/15/the-lion-that-barked-china-zoo-under-fire-for-disguising-dog-as-lion/
