Why is that lion barking? A Chinese zoo tried to pass off a hairy dog as a lion, which has visitors outraged.
According to Chinese state media, a visitor with the last name Liu, realized the zoo's trick when she was visiting with her son. The zoo is located in a park in Louhe in the central province of Henan, CNN reports.
Liu was approaching the "African lion" cage when they suddenly heard the lion release a bark. It turns out that the animal wasn't a lion at all. It was a large, hairy Tibetan mastiff.
"The zoo is absolutely trying to cheat us," Liu said. "They are trying to disguise dogs as lions."
The lion wasn't the only animal that the zoo was trying to fake. There was another dog in a wolf cage and a white fox was on display in the leopard exhibit.
Liu Suya, the head of the park's animal department told CNN that the animals were substituted for different reasons and the real animals would be back soon. She said the lion and leopard weren't in their cages as they were removed for breeding. The Tibetan mastiff was placed in the lion's cage temporarily "due to safety concerns," Suya said.
She also said the dog was in the wolf enclosure to breed with the wolves and create a hybrid wolf-dog. "We're not doing it out of shortage of funds," she said.
Chinese citizens took to social media sites to express their anger over the bait and switch.
"If this works why would people even bother to go to the zoo!" wrote Guohebaxiaoma according to CNN. "Children will cry out 'look a lion came out!' at the sight of Tibetan Mastiff or 'look it's a rat!' seeing snake on the street...This is totally absurd!"
"This time you're lucky. Because perhaps next time you will find that all the animals in the zoo are played by the faculty. LOL," Yidongdexulaoshi said.
"It's way too ironic. Why doesn't the zoo simply just put the zookeeper in a cage with the sign "Gorilla" on its gate," Lanseyapingningliuxunqing said.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
