Zoo admits that their pandas are ‘painted dogs’ after backlash from visitors

A Chinese zoo has admitted that the pandas in their exhibits were, in fact, “painted dogs.”

According to the New York Post, visitors at the Shanwei Zoo realized they were being bamboozled when the so-called pandas began panting and barking. Pandas are native to China and an international symbol of the country.

In one visitor’s video, one of the “pandas” was visibly panting while resting on a rock in a fence, while another clip had a panda with a long tail strolling about.

“It’s a PANdog,” one viewer wrote, while someone else joked: “That’s the Temu version of a panda.”

“They were panting that’s why they are pandas,” a third noted.

After visitors publicized the ruse on social media, the organizers admitted they’d painted two Chow Chows — a fluffy dog breed originally from northern China — with black-and-white panda markings. Since then, visitors have demanded their money back for false advertising.

This isn’t the first time a Chinese zoo has misled visitors with claims of housing real pandas.

In May, NBC Newsreported that Taizhou Zoo in Jiangsu Province had also painted Chow Chows. Zoo representatives initially claimed that the animals were a rare breed of “panda dogs,” before admitting that such animals don’t exist. At the time, zoo officials told Chinese state media they had advertised them as “panda dogs,” and did not intentionally mislead anyone.

When journalists asked them why they invented the idea of “panda dogs” to cover their tracks, a zoo representative explained, “There are no panda bears at the zoo, and we wanted to do this as a result.”

At the time, state media and the general public criticized the zoo for also mistreating the dogs.

“It is not funny at all to dye Chow Chow dogs to attract tourists,” one commenter wrote on the social media platform Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of X, formerly Twitter. “Their fragile skin and naturally thick coats make them susceptible to skin diseases.”

However, officials defended their choice to paint the dogs, noting they weren’t harmed by the dye, and argued that if humans could do it, so could dogs.

“Normal people dye their hair,” a representative told Qilu Evening News. “Dogs can dye their hair, too. It’s the same as hair.”

From a dog cafe in the southwestern province of Sichuan dyeing six Chow Chows to look like panda bears in 2019 to a woman of the same province walking a “panda dog” in a viral video in 2020, it doesn’t seem like this zoo practice is a fluke.