A Chinese zoo official in Henan province thought he was way too clever ..... so when the zoo's only lion was sent away for a bit of R 'n' R to a breeding centre, instead of just putting up a sign informing visitors of this fact, he simply substituted a zoo workers dog for the missing lion.
Now I know that parts of rural China are far more backward than many Westerners realise (we forget that a few major well developed cities make up only a minority of China's population), but surely the locals know what a lion looks like?
Even so, it was only when 'the lion' started barking that the scheme was exposed .... and then more cunning substitutions came to light. Other species were also apparently mislabelled with a white fox in the leopard's den, and yet another dog being passed off as a wolf ....still looking at the grim conditions in the zoo, maybe the missing animals are the lucky ones.
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| The Henan "Lion" - Really A Tibetan Mastiff |
Now I know that parts of rural China are far more backward than many Westerners realise (we forget that a few major well developed cities make up only a minority of China's population), but surely the locals know what a lion looks like?
Even so, it was only when 'the lion' started barking that the scheme was exposed .... and then more cunning substitutions came to light. Other species were also apparently mislabelled with a white fox in the leopard's den, and yet another dog being passed off as a wolf ....still looking at the grim conditions in the zoo, maybe the missing animals are the lucky ones.
To be fair, I went to a zoo in the old Yugoslavia where I swear the 'wolves' were alsatians.
ReplyDeleteActually, now you mention it, Bellevue Zoo in Manchester UK had some very ropey wolves (amongst other poor exhibits) before it was closed down.
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