'African lion' in Chinese zoo started barking? Oh my god, it's a dog!

, Aug 15: A Chinese

made it to the headlines for wrong reasons after its supposed "African lion" started barking instead of roaring! The matter was brought to the notice after a visitor pointed out that the animal in the cage labelled 'African lion' started barking.

The man had brought his son to the zoo to get him familiar with various kind of animal sounds and he was flabbergasted to see the lion barking. It was the dog which was used as a substitute for the 'king of the jungle' which played the role of the whistle blower!

The zoo in Luhoe's People's Park in Henan province replaced exotic exhibits with common species, said the state-run Beijing Youth Daily. The animal that was substituted as the lion was a Tibetan mastiff, a big and long-haired dog.

The upset visitor accused the zoo of cheating people by trying to disguise dogs as lions. The zoo authorities, however, came up with a bizarre defence. They said while they indeed had a lion, it had been taken to a breeding facility and an employee's dog was kept in the cage for security reasons.

The authorities were also found to have kept wrong animals in the cages labelled for something else.

The matter was mocked in China's own social media circles.

OneIndia News