A CHINESE zoo has come under fire after pictures resurfaced of a dog trying to be passed off as a lion.
It comes after Hangzhou Zoo was forced to deny claims that one of their sun bears was a human in a costume after footage showed the animal waving at visitors.
And now Yuanjiashan Zoo, in the province of Xichang, has faced fresh criticism after a video resurfaced from two years ago.
The footage was taken in 2021 after an astonished dad – identified only as Tang – realised a golden retriever had been put inside a lion’s cage.
The man filmed the dog sitting patiently within the confined walls of the African lion’s enclosure, having taken his son to see one of the zoo’s top attractions.
As reported by the South China Morning Post at the time, a staff member at the zoo explained that the lions had been temporarily moved.
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And they claimed they hadn't yet got around to changing the signs on the enclosures.
But Tang was unconvinced and accused the zoo of passing the golden retriever off as a lion – and claimed they were selling tickets to customers under a false pretence.
Tang said: "The money for the ticket is a small deal.
"What matters [to] me more is that I don't know how to explain the current situation to my kid."
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Although the saga happened two years ago, it follows the outrage over the "human" sun bear at Hanghzou Zoo.
The footage shows Angela the bear stood up on his hind legs and appeared to wave at visitors as it tried to catch food thrown in its direction.
But the zoo was quick to shut down the accusations with a bizarre statement made from the bear’s perspective, saying: "It seems you don’t understand me very well."
Elsewhere, other Chinese zoos have been accused of trying to pass off dogs dyed to look like wolves or African cats.
And in 2019 two workers at Yancheng Wild Animal World were seen wearing gorilla costumes and jumping around.
It was later passed off as an April Fools' prank by the zoo, following a number of complaints.
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