Chinese zoo comes clean over fake pandas

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A Chinese zoo has been forced to come clean about their bizarre-looking ‘pandas’ that left many scratching their heads.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/scie ... 39879f8c45

Visitors to the Shanwei Zoo in China’s eastern Guangdong province were excited to see ‘pandas’ advertised but were left bewildered after the ‘bears’ began panting and barking in their enclosure.

Mind-boggling footage of the animals quickly went viral and left many to come to the obvious conclusion that these were in fact, not real pandas.

Facing pressure, the zoo initially tried to claim the animals were a rare breed of “panda dogs.”

However they were soon forced to admit they had just dyed two puppies black and white to resemble pandas.



I mean, how gullible do they take the public to be?

I dunno, people have been gullible enough to think horse paste would really cure covid. Or that bleach can cure autism.

According to the article, visitors were left bewildered when the "pandas" were seen barking and panting.

So, they couldn't see the difference until the animals started making dog-type noises?

It's such a clumsy attempt that it's almost kind of sweet that they tried it at all.

me thinks it's more to do with $$$

Gives new meaning to the term "pandering". Lol!

Reminds me of this South American scandal from a few years ago.


https://youtu.be/cOLOjW3ijL0


https://youtu.be/bb7JZqEtFWk

this did the rounds some years ago...
https://www.smh.com.au/world/japanese-f ... 1-9pk.html

I found the content of the article in the OP to be hilarious.

The panda dogs do look pretty cute, but I don't know if it's humane to be dying animals in colors not natural for them.

Although I did think it was pretty cool seeing a bright pink rooster at the Farmer's Exhibition when I was younger. Apparently they used Kool-Aid to die his white feathers. He looked like he was part flamingo.

Definitely not but animal welfare means different things in different cultural contexts. I read a book (memoirs?) in school by English author and conservationist Gerald Durrell (I actually can't remember the year/name). He was invited to China many years ago by their equivalent of Chinese Conservation society (I think this was the 1970s). the story stayed with me, about (what Durell recalled) was great work the society was doing in conserving a rare species of river dolphin.

Durell was VIP guest at a dinner in Shanghai to honour his visit to China (I think it was rare during communist Bamboo curtain for foreigners to get a VISA). He ate a series of dishes and the final dish was served with some fanfare and dragon dancers clanging cymbals. to his utter horror they carried a whole baked dolphin to his table. He apparently asked his translator to say this not right and he refused to touch/eat. "What were you doing"! According to his hosts "we conserve animals so future generations can enjoy them". In this case "enjoy" did not mean watching them from a safe distance. It meant baked and smothered in sweet and sour sauce.

I figure the dyes were tested on animals in the first place, so they're probably safe for animals.