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

Kintarian@lemmy.world to Not The Onion@lemmy.world – 532 points – Zoo admits that their pandas are actually ‘painted dogs’
independent.co.uk
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It's a shih tzu

I regret that I have only one upvote to give for that awesome comment

China: Why does everyone question our discoveries?

Also China:

But aren’t pandas from China? I was expecting this to be some other country that, you know, doesnt have pandas.

Pandas are owned by the government. Not everyone in China can get a panda.

See also Panda diplomacy

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, with China–United States relations straining, China began declining to renew panda leases for U.S. zoos.[27][28] The San Diego Zoo pandas returned to China in 2019, followed by pandas at the Memphis Zoo and National Zoo in Washington, D.C. in 2023.[29]The Memphis pandas, Ya Ya and Le Le, became a rallying point for Chinese calls to repatriate the bears after accusations of poor living conditions circulated on Chinese social media sites and the sudden death of Le Le in February 2023.

Did they order their panda from Wish?

Cute doggo, but maybe don’t paint them?

They recalled them from the world famous San Diego zoo.....and the kids broke them the next day.

Ooh that would be a nice scam. Accuse the US of returning painted dogs.

We should just get some hair samples the next time a Panda is on loan and clone us some. Every company that's ever had their products cloned after outsourcing to China would get a kick out of that.

I’m sure they’d throw a big fit over it. It’s ok if they do it, but not us.

You know this led to huge fights and maybe a mental break or two.

"I'm TELLING you, those were fucking dogs!"

"Yeah, okay, bro, I'm sure you know better than the literal ZOO."

This story resurfaces every couple of months. Last time it turned out they had specifically advertised that they'd be having an event where they had the dogs groomed to look like pandas. Like, they never claimed they were actually pandas.

It’s a different incident from a different zoo.

Never heard your excuse before any of the many previous times this exact same thing has happened in China.

I wouldn't say it's my excuse, exactly, but I will say it's funny we think this could possibly convince any Chinese person they were seeing a panda.

That's the cutest dog I've ever seen lmfao

Well at least they don't need to pay rent to china

Please explain.

Several pandas are in the US, on loan from China, and I think we may be paying rent on some.