Zoo sparks outrage after claiming a dog is a lion

[Adam]

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-08-15/zoo-sparks-outrage-in-china-after-claiming-dog-is-lion/

A zoo in China has sparked outrage after claiming that a dog was an African lion, reports the Chinese state run news agency the Beijing Youth Daily.

Visitors became suspicious when the African lion at the zoo in Henan province started barking.

A man holds up his Tibetan mastiff
Library picture of a man holding up his Tibetan mastiff. Credit: REUTERS/Stringer
Visitors to the zoo realised that the animal was in fact a Tibetan mastiff, and that other exhibits at the zoo were not what they were labelled.

Three other species housed incorrectly included two coypu rodents in a snake's cage, a white fox in a leopard's den, and another dog in a wolf pen.

A spokesman for the zoo told local reporters that the African lion had been transported to a breeding facility and that they had used the dog so that visitors "would not be disappointed".

He said the signs would now be changed to reflect the animal's correct species.

["couldbecousin"]

  All I can say is     How stupid do they think people are?

[MLA]

woof 

["couldbecousin"]

      ROAR 

[Icequeen]

I guess if you weren't really looking at it close enough....

["couldbecousin"]

I guess if you weren't really looking at it close enough....

  And if I were seeing it from a passing car, and if I'd never seen a picture of an actual lion. 

[Parts]

Next they will be telling he the Gucci handbags they have in the gift shop for five dollars are fake too

["couldbecousin"]

Next they will be telling he the Gucci handbags they have in the gift shop for five dollars are fake too

  I assure you, those are most definitely genuine. 

[Jack]

Visitors became suspicious when the lion started barking.

[ZEGH8578]

We westerners are used to animals, and used to taking for granted that we know which animal is which.
The Chinese, without generalizing them all, tend to know much less about animals (seen through their persistent myths and beliefs, magical animal properties, lack of animal welfare laws. Many Chinese seem unaware of the difference between African elephants, Asian elephants, and extinct mammoths)

Obviously, most Chinese know what a lion is, but then again, it took the dog to have to bark for them to become suspicious.

Caring for animals is a wealthyness thing. People who struggle and starve can't care about zebras and monkeys in foreign lands, we can, we watch animal docus, and we learn about them, while doing other pointless hobbies.
The Chinese got 1 holyday a year, which is new-years. They don't have time to even watch a single documentary, much less have a "hobby".

[Jack]

They have time to go to the zoo.

[conlang returns]

They have time to go to the zoo.

I would assume those guys were wealthy.  But because they don't have an economy that supports a broad base of curiosity, they don't have a broad base of knowledge, even for the rich to draw upon.  They've also got a national firewall, meaning information from foreigners is impossible to import. 

[sg1008]

This is not news worthy at all.

[ZEGH8578]

Jack, like simba said, it goes further than the individual. Of course there's Chinese people who know this stuff, there are plenty of Chinese zoologists But there is a lacking culture of broad knowledge about the world, also a general lack of knowledge about animals.

Compare to dumb Americans

["couldbecousin"]

Jack, like simba said, it goes further than the individual. Of course there's Chinese people who know this stuff, there are plenty of Chinese zoologists But there is a lacking culture of broad knowledge about the world, also a general lack of knowledge about animals.

Compare to dumb Americans

  Americans are awesome.  We dominate the world.  Go home and cry in a fjord.