14 DAY TRIAL // News from China says that visitors to a zoo in the country's central province of Henan were slightly taken aback when an alleged African lion put on display at this wildlife park started barking.
It turns out that, although the cage inside which the animal was kept was labeled “African lion,” the fierce creature it housed was a dog.
More precisely, it was a Tibetan mastiff such as the one pictured above.
Zoo employees say that they've never meant to trick their visitors. They say that they do own an African lion, but that the big cat has been taken to a breeding facility.
Meanwhile, they've decided to allow the dog to set up camp in the lion's enclosure. Sources say that, later on, it was discovered that two coypu rodents at this zoo were living in a supposed snake's cage, a white fox called a leopard's den its home and one other dog was living inside a wolf pen.
Zoo staff are expected to properly label the cages in the days to come.