African lions aren't supposed to bark, are they? No, we didn't think so. Leopards are supposed to look feline, aren't they? Yes, that's what we thought. Apparently, a zookeeper in Louhe, in Henan Province, China, had hoped that visitors in this backwater province wouldn't know the difference between a lion and a dog, or between a white fox and a leopard.
The ruse was discovered when a woman took her young son to the local zoo, and they heard the "lion" barking at them. Hmm. That was no lion; it was a Tibetan mastiff. In another cage, a white fox was labeled as a leopard. In yet another cage, a dog was said to be a wolf. (At least that one may have been close, unless the dog was a chihuahua.) Astonishingly, white rats populated the snake enclosure. (What was their excuse for that one? Some attempts at deceptions are so transparent that not even World of Excuses can salvage their credibility.)
The zookeeper's excuse for the substitutes was as bizarre as the substitutes themselves. The lion and the leopard had been removed for breeding, he said, and the Tibetan mastiff was placed in the lion's enclosure out of unspecified "safety concerns." We're still waiting to hear his excuse for having Old Yeller in the wolf enclosure or having Cinderella's coachmen in the snake enclosure.
One Chinese blogger suggested that the zookeeper should stand in a cage marked, "Gorilla."
Just for fun, let's test your animal IQ. Take a look at the following photos to see the supposed African lion, leopard, wolf, and some snakes. Would you be deceived? Except for laughs, would you pay the equivalent of US$2.40 to see exhibits as inauthentic as these?
African Lion
Leopard
Wolf
Snakes
For the CNN report and video on the ill-conceived attempt at deception, click here.
Passing off household pets as wild exotic animals is minor compared to China's history of passing one thing off as another.
From 2007 through 2010 (and probably earlier) Chinese toy makers passed off toxic (and illegal) lead paint as non-toxic, lead-free paint. (link)
From 2008 through 2010 (and probably earlier) China routinely passed off pubescent (read: underage) gymnasts as being 14 or older, which is the minimum age for Olympic gymnasts. Even when official Chinese records showed their true ages, Chinese athletic officials used the excuse, "Chinese bodies are not the same as Western bodies." (link)
Also from 2008 through 2010 in China, melamine was passed off in milk and other food products as protein that naturally occurred in the products. At least 100,000 babies were hospitalized and at least 6 died. (link)
In 2010, a Chinese official passed himself off as an impartial judge at an international taekwondo event in Korea. The charlatan was videotaped picking up a sock sensor from the floor, crossing the competition floor and pretending to remove it from the sock of Taiwanese silver medalist Yang Shu-chun. By disqualifying the Chinese competitor's biggest competitor, he all but guaranteed that the Chinese competitor would win. The Korean judge—who, apparently like many Korean officials today, was fearful of offending China—went along with the deceit and barred Yang from competing for three months. (link) and (link)
Probably their most notorious misrepresentation is the claim that Taiwan is a Chinese province. Their excuse for that one is, "Taiwan has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times." "Ancient times" refers to the period from 1886 to 1895, and even during those nine years, the Manchu Dynasty (which was Mongolian rather than Chinese) controlled only the western half of Taiwan. (Important lesson in making excuses: Don't try to use an excuse that anyone can disprove in just five minutes. It makes you look like a jerk on top of being a liar.)
If anybody needs an intensive course on how to make credible excuses, it's Chinese businessmen and officials—from the head honcho on down to the lowliest zookeeper. Even if you're not a Chinese businessman or official, and your excuses are already fairly credible, we expect that you'll find World of Excuses enormously helpful in creating world-class excuses.
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