Visitors at a zoo in China have raised suspicions about the pandas on display after the animals, which are native to the country, started mysteriously barking.
According to reports in the New York Post, day trippers at the Shanwei Zoo snagged the ruse when the so-called pandas began panting and barking while resting on a rock in a fence.
Footage uploaded to social media also shows one had a long tail.
@dailymail A Chinese zoo has sparked fury after it painted dogs black and white and presented them as pandas. A video shared on YouTube shows the puppies with black ears, limbs, and ears and with dark circles around their eyes. Visitors said they became suspicious when the 'pandas' started panting in their enclosure. When quizzed, the zoo admitted that they had dyed two Chow Chows, a type of spitz dog from northern China with a thick coat. The zoo, however, has denied they misled people as they never claimed the dogs were pandas, explaining instead they were 'panda dogs'. #panda #pandas #zoo #dogs #chowchow #animalsoftiktok #news #chinazoo #china ♬ I am sneaking into you Pink Panther Parody – moshimo sound design
The zoo has since admitted that the pandas in their exhibits were, in fact, “painted dogs.”
Organisers admitted they’d painted two Chow Chows – a fluffy dog breed originally from northern China – with black-and-white panda markings.
It has prompted visitors to demand their money back for false advertising, with a number of people expressing outrage on social media.
This isn’t the first time a Chinese zoo has misled visitors with claims of housing real pandas.
In May, NBC News reported that Taizhou Zoo in Jiangsu Province had also painted Chow Chows.
Zoo representatives initially claimed that the animals were a rare breed of “panda dogs,” before admitting that such animals don’t exist.
At the time, zoo officials told Chinese state media they had advertised them as “panda dogs,” and did not intentionally mislead anyone.
When journalists asked them why they invented the idea of “panda dogs” to cover their tracks, a zoo representative explained, “There are no panda bears at the zoo, and we wanted to do this as a result.”
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