Henan zoo under fire for trying to pass off dog as African lion
Henan attraction's boast of a range of exotic creatures outrages visitors
A zoo's attempt to pass off fluffy dogs as "African lions" and rats as "snakes" has infuriated the zoo's visitors, according to the Henan provincial newspaper Dongfang Jinbao.
In the zoo in Luohe in Henan , a cage marked "African lions" actually contained a Tibetan mastiff, a breed of domestic dog with fluffy brown fur around its face, according to photographs published by mainland media.
A zoo administrator tried desperately to explain. "The wolves are there," he told an Oriental Daily reporter.
"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."
But the zoo had no explanation for abnormalities such as "fox-like creatures" in the leopard's pen.
Visitors were outraged. Sharon Liu, who had taken her six-year-old son to the zoo, was alarmed to hear barking coming from inside the lion's cage.