The Chinese zoo is said to have admitted to painting donkeys and white to pass as zebras, in an attempt to promote attendance at the park.
The Jibo City amusement park in Chandon opened fire when internet users noticed the donkey was being disguised as a zebra in early February. China's national global time.
In one photo, a zoo worker was seen standing next to a donkey. This was tainted with almost perfect black and white stripes running throughout my body.
After a heated discussion about animals, a park representative told the outlet that the painting job was a marketing strategy.
“The owner just did it for fun,” the staff told the outlet.
Online users have blown up the zoo with “misleading and unethical” treatment of animals to take park visitors. According to Metro.
“It's unfair for animals and visitors,” critics told China's social media app Douyin, the outlet reported.
Some employees assume that they use duck tape on farm animals, while others suspect that it is a dye.
The zoo confirmed that the dye was used in the creature, but claimed it was not toxic.
Social media users have received even more criticism.
“They did a pretty bad job too,” one wrote on Facebook.
“They look striped… they look like piñatas,” another joked.
AP
Zibo City Amusement Park was not the first place to try Switcheroo.
The park took the idea from another Chinese zoo, which painted a dog and pretended to be a panda.
According to local media, the parks at Shan Wei Zoo noticed a scam when one of the apparent pandas began panting and barking
The zoo initially denied accusations of having fake pandas, but in the end it became clean.
In 2018, the Cairo zoo in Egypt was accused of drawing zebra stripes on donkeys, with social media pointing to the animal's faces and the ears appearing not to be of the right size.
Zoo director Mohamed Sultan also initially denied the claims, claiming that the animals are treated very well.
However, animal rights activists disagreed.
PETA issued a statement Roadside zoos like Egypt claim to prioritize ticket sales over animal welfare.
“Reputable animal care facilities will suppress skittish animals like donkeys and not be exposed to the stress of spraying chemicals like paint.
Peta added that in 2009 the Gaza zoo reportedly did the same thing as it failed to acquire the actual zebra due to Israeli lockdown.
