A zoo in the Shanwei city of China's eastern Guangdong province was forced to admit that the pandas in their exhibits are, in fact, "painted dogs".
The duped visitors at the Shanwei zoo, who were left outraged, witnessed that one of the so-called "pandas" was actually panting and barking, New York Post reported.
They even clicked photographs and took videos of the animals that have gone viral on social media.
In one of the viral videos, one of the animals can be seen panting while lying on a rock in a fenced area. Also, it shows another dog, having a long, curly tail, strolling around.
Officials at the zoo initially tried to cover upand bizarrely claimed that the two animals were a breed of "panda dogs."
However, when the visitors criticised them over various social media platforms, the zoo's manager said the dogs are one of its top attractions.
"You can see by our name, we are 'Strange Animals and Cute Pets Paradise. These are Chow Chow dogs being painted (as pandas), as this is part of our specialties," CNN quoted her as saying.
Chow Chows are a fluffy breed of spitz, originally from northern China.
The two dogs were painted with black-and-white markings.
This was not the first time when a zoo in China was caught misleading visitors with the claims of housing real pandas in their exhibits.
A few months ago, the Taizhou Zoo in Jiangsu Province was also criticised by many for painting Chow Chows and presenting them as 'pandas'. The zoo advertised the attraction of ''Xiong Mao Quan'', which translates as ''panda dogs'' to boost its visitor footfall during the May Day holiday.
At that time too, the zoo representatives had claimed that the animals were rare "panda dogs" breed. However, they later admitted that such animal breeds don't exist.
Back then, the zoo officials had informed the local media that they did not intentionally mislead anyone as they advertised the animals as "panda dogs".
After being confronted on the idea of inventing "panda dogs," a zoo representative said, "There are no panda bears at the zoo and we wanted to do this as a result. People also dye their hair. Natural dye can be used on dogs if they have long fur."
