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BEIJING — A Chinese zoo attempted to pass off a big, fluffy dog as one of their African lions.
A zoo in the People's Park of Luohe replaced its African lion exhibit with a large, long-haired Tibetan mastiff, according to Beijing's Youth Daily.
"The zoo is absolutely cheating us," said a customer surnamed Liu. "They are trying to disguise the dogs as lions."
Liu apparently paid 15 yuan ($2.45) for a ticket to the exhibit. She was teaching her son about different animal sounds but noticed the "African lion" was barking.
The lion exhibit was not the only exhibit featuring a incorrectly named animal. Two coypu rodents — rats — were housed in a snake's cage, a white fox was in a leopard's den and another, smaller dog was housed in a wolf exhibit.
An administrator with the zoo explain to a reporter at the Oriental Daily that the animals are there. "The wolves are there," he said. "But the wolf is somewhere else in the pen and the dog is a pet. The African lions will be back. They went to another zoo to breed."
