A zoo in China is facing considerable controversy after it was revealed that its main attraction, an African Lion, was actually a dog.
Visitors were tipped off by the fact that the beast’s roar sounded more like a bark. That, and the fact that the animal was clearly a dog. “Well I’ve never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair,” most people should have said.
According to People’s Daily, the zoo contained other conspicuous exhibits, such as a snake cage with exactly two rats and zero snakes.
A further investigation confirmed the dog to be a Tibetan mastiff, and by investigation we simply mean someone looked at it.
“They should at least use a husky to pretend to be a wolf,” a savvy onlooker commented. Geez guys, at least you could have stuck to the same genus.
Commenting on the incident, the zoo released a statement that the lion had been moved to a nearby breeding facility, while the dog had been placed in the cage over safety concerns. So really it was just a classic dog-lion mix-up all along!
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Jeremy Schipper is an intern trained in zoology at Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @jeromeoschipps.
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