Pandas at China Zoo Turn Out to be PAINTED Dogs

The giant panda is China's national animal and national treasure, beloved worldwide for its adorableness and cute antics. So, if you visited a Chinese zoo, you’d expect to see REAL pandas, right? Unfortunately, visitors to the Shanwei Zoo in the eastern Guangdong province guessed wrongly, as the ‘pandas’ they were looking at were actually pups.

Chinese zoogoers figured out the hoax when the ‘tiny pandas’ were heard barking and seen panting with their tongues out. The zoo did the ‘bear’ minimum to bamboozle its visitors, as it had dyed some dogs.

In the following video, the ‘pandas’ curly tails are visible and hardly pass off as the black and white animal.

NEW: China zoo forced to admit the truth after one of their “pandas” started panting and barking.The Shanwei zoo admits they painted dogs white and black to make them look like pandas.The zoo initially tried claiming that the dogs were a unique breed of pandas called… pic.twitter.com/MMoQLD7zuR

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 19, 2024

According to TMZ, initially, the zoo tried to deny the allegations, claiming that these were a breed of ‘panda dogs’. They eventually confessed that they had dyed two Chow Chows black and white. The fluffy dog breed is very popular in northern China.

Visitors who had been duped then demanded their money back.

Chinese knock offs

Amusingly, this is not the first time that such a hoax has been carried out. According to NBC, the Taizhou Zoo in the eastern province of Jiangsu also attempted to pull off the same stunt in May. However, they said they had advertised them as ‘panda dogs’ and made no false claims. At the time, the dogs were still at the zoo on exhibition as the zoo did not have any real pandas.

Some users slammed the zoo for mistreating the dogs, writing on Weibo, “It is not funny at all to dye Chow Chow dogs to attract tourists. Their fragile skin and naturally thick coats make them susceptible to skin diseases.”

However, Zoo officials retorted, saying, “Normal people dye their hair. Dogs can dye their hair, too. It’s the same as hair.”