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An Egyptian zoo has been exposed for deceiving visitors by passing off painted donkeys as zebras — but is refusing to admit that the animals are obvious frauds.
A local student spotted the fraud at Cairo’s International Garden municipal park last week. He posted photos of the fake zebras on Facebook showing the mules’ black “stripes” smudged across their faces.
Animal specialists confirmed to Egyptian news outlet Extranews.tv that the animals are, indeed, donkeys and that the paint job is also pretty shoddy saying that real zebra stripes are straighter and more consistent.
But zoo director Mohamed Sultan has refused ro accept that the animals were fake. According to BBC, he told local media that they’re genuine zebras.
A report by New York Post however points out that it is not the first time a zoo has tried to dress up donkeys as zebras. It said an animal park in Gaza pulled the same stunt in 2009.