Zoo's wolf exposed as a dog in online video

How would you feel if you visited the zoo and found a dog in the wolf enclosure?

That's what happened to a man surnamed Xu who uploaded a video of the “imposter” at Xiangwushan Zoo in Xianning, a city in central China’s Hubei Province.

Many viewers were amused, leaving comments such as: “I would rather see a husky;” “Relax, aren’t dogs and wolves related?” and “The zoo should change to sign to ‘canine enclosure’ then they would be fine.”

A staff member at the local forestry bureau told thepaper.cn that the zoo did have a wolf in the enclosure but it had died of old age a while ago. The dog was being kept there only temporarily to prevent people trying to avoid paying for a ticket climbing over the zoo walls. 

The zoo charges 15 yuan (US$ 2.3) for admission, he added, and it didn’t have enough visitors to keep the zoo up and running well.

The bureau has asked the zoo to dismantle the wolf enclosure sign, he said.