China 'dog-lion'

An animal described as an African lion at a Chinese zoo was exposed as a fraud - when the creature started barking in front of visitors. Chinese media reports said the zoo had replaced its genuine lion with a Tibetan mastiff dog. A zoo official in Henan province said the dog - owned by one of the workers - was put in the cage when the real lion was sent away to a breeding centre. Outraged visitors to the zoo in Louhe city said they had been cheated. A Tibetan mastiff is a particularly hairy breed According to a report in the Beijing Youth Daily, the fraud came to light when a mother visited the zoo, in a park in the city of Louhe, to show her son the sounds different animals made. But when they got to the cage marked "African lion" - which had a sign describing the range and characteristics of the animal - they were shocked to hear the creature bark.