Don’t Fall for the Fake Pandas

A Chow Chow painted as a panda (a.k.a. a “panda dog”) attends a pet fashion show in China.
Photo: VCG/Visual China Group via Getty Images

I didn’t think there was much worse than discovering a designer handbag you bought off the RealReal was actually just an overpriced dupe. But then I learned that Chinese zookeepers conned attendees with fake “pandas.” According to the New York Post, attendees at a Shanwei zoo realized they’d been duped when they discovered the park’s panda enclosure had actually been populated by painted dogs.

In footage posted by a visitor, a “panda” can be seen happily lying on a rock and panting in a suspiciously doglike manner. In another clip, a different “panda” struts across the lawn while wagging an unusually long tail. Other visitors apparently heard the pandas barking. Per the Post, after visitors made the ruse public on social media, the organization quickly owned up to dying two Chow Chows with black-and-white panda markings. The duped visitors have since demanded their money back in lieu of the false advertising.

This isn’t the first time a Chinese zoo has touted fake pandas. In May, Taizhou Zoo in Jiangsu Province also souped up some Chow Chows, according to NBC News. At the time, the zoo reportedly tried to claim that the animals were a rare breed of “panda dogs,” before admitting that those don’t exist. When asked why they painted some dogs and invented the idea of “panda dogs” to cover up their tracks, a zoo representative told Chinese state media, “There are no panda bears at the zoo, and we wanted to do this as a result.” Whatever species this is, they are still pretty cute. Don’t tell zoo officials, but I’d probably still travel to see them.