A lion and a dog at the zoo Photo: screenshot of video posted on Sina Weibo

Many residents in Xichang, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province were interested after a new local zoo opened, but later they were shocked to see a cage claiming to have an African lion that had a golden retriever dog instead.

A video clip shot by one of the visitors has gone viral on Chinese social media, showing a golden retriever lying in a cage, with a sign outside saying it was an African lion.

“Dogs are so busy replacing other animals in zoos. I recalled the dog that was substituted for a wolf in another Chinese zoo,” one netizen said on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

The zoo responded on Monday to Red Star News, admitting that this was a mistake and apologizing to the public that the sign was not changed in time.

“This cage used to be for an African lion, but now it's been re-designated as one for a golden retriever,” one employee of the zoo told the media, explaining that the dog is kept by the owner of the zoo.

There are now lions in the zoo, the report said.

Tourists in Xianning, Central China’s Hubei Province found out that the “wolf” they saw was actually a dog in early March 2021. It drew the attention of thousands of netizens, who joked that the zoo should have used a husky dog, as it’s harder to tell from a real wolf.