Zoo admits that their pandas are ‘painted dogs’ after backlash from visitors

A Chinese zoo has admitted that the pandas successful their exhibits were, successful fact, “painted dogs.”

According to the New York Post, visitors astatine the Shanwei Zoo realized they were being bamboozled erstwhile the alleged pandas began panting and barking. Pandas are autochthonal to China and an planetary awesome of the country.

In 1 visitor’s video, 1 of the “pandas” was visibly panting portion resting connected a stone successful a fence, portion different clip had a panda with a agelong process strolling about.

“It’s a PANdog,” 1 spectator wrote, portion idiosyncratic other joked: “That’s the Temu mentation of a panda.”

“They were panting that’s wherefore they are pandas,” a 3rd noted.

After visitors publicized the ruse connected societal media, the organizers admitted they’d painted 2 Chow Chows — a fluffy canine breed primitively from bluish China — with black-and-white panda markings. Since then, visitors person demanded their wealth backmost for mendacious advertising.

This isn’t the archetypal clip a Chinese zoo has misled visitors with claims of lodging existent pandas.

In May, NBC News reported that Taizhou Zoo successful Jiangsu Province had besides painted Chow Chows. Zoo representatives initially claimed that the animals were a uncommon breed of “panda dogs,” earlier admitting that specified animals don’t exist. At the time, zoo officials told Chinese authorities media they had advertised them arsenic “panda dogs,” and did not intentionally mislead anyone.

When journalists asked them wherefore they invented the thought of “panda dogs” to screen their tracks, a zoo typical explained, “There are nary panda bears astatine the zoo, and we wanted to bash this arsenic a result.”

At the time, authorities media and the wide nationalist criticized the zoo for besides mistreating the dogs.

“It is not comic astatine each to dye Chow Chow dogs to pull tourists,” 1 commenter wrote connected the societal media level Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of X, formerly Twitter. “Their fragile tegument and people heavy coats marque them susceptible to tegument diseases.”

However, officials defended their prime to overgarment the dogs, noting they weren’t harmed by the dye, and argued that if humans could bash it, truthful could dogs.

“Normal radical dye their hair,” a typical told Qilu Evening News. “Dogs tin dye their hair, too. It’s the aforesaid arsenic hair.”

From a canine cafe successful the southwestern state of Sichuan dyeing six Chow Chows to look similar panda bears successful 2019 to a pistillate of the aforesaid state walking a “panda dog” successful a viral video successful 2020, it doesn’t look similar this zoo signifier is simply a fluke.