A zoo has landed itself in hot water after
trying to pass off fluffy dogs as lions and
rats as snakes.
A clearly-marked sign claimed an
animal in one of the cages was an
African lion but visitors became
infuriated when it was clear a Tibetan
mastiff dog was inside instead.
Visitor Liu Wen said: ‘I had my young
son with me so I tried to play along
and told him it was a special kind of
lion.
‘But then the dog barked and he knew
straight away what it was and that
I’d lied to him.’
Elsewhere in the zoo, foxes were used
to impersonate leopards and another
dog was used to impersonate a wolf.
And in their most creative feat a
couple of rats, clearly scurrying around
in a cage, were labelled snakes.
Punters were obviously having none of
it, especially when they were alarmed
to hear a dog barking inside one of
the cages.
Sharon Liu, who had taken her six-
year-old son to the zoo, told the
Orient Today newspaper she was
teaching him all the sounds the
animals make but instead only heard
barking.
‘To use a dog to impersonate a lion is
definitely an insult to tourists,’ she
said.
Another, unnamed woman, added:
‘The zoo is absolutely cheating us.
They are trying to disguise the dogs
as lions.’
Yu Hua, head of the People’s Park
where the zoo is located said private
contractors ran the zoo.
A manager at the zoo in the eastern
Chinese city of Luohe desperately
tried to explain what had happened,
saying the dog was the lion’s friend
and the African animal had been sent
to another zoo to breed.
A spokesman for the zoo added:
‘We’re doing our best in tough
economic times. If anyone is unhappy
with our displays we will give back
their money.’
In 2010, the government stopped
giving contracts to private operators
for animal parks and zoos, but the
contract for the Luohe zoo has not
expired yet.
The signs would be ‘promptly
corrected’, Mr Yu insisted..


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