Egyptian zoo accused of painting donkey to look like a zebra

Egyptian zoo accused of painting donkey to look like a zebra
Copyright Mahmoud Sarhan
By Alice Cuddy
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Donkey or zebra? Egyptian zoo accused of painting donkey to look like a zebra.

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A zoo in Egypt has been accused of painting a donkey to look like a zebra after photos of the animal went viral online.

Mahmoud Sarhan posted photos of the animal to Facebook after a recent trip to Cairo’s International Garden municipal park.

Social media users noted that the ‘zebra’ had long floppy ears and that its stripes were smudged, leading to debate online over what species it was.

Mahmoud Sarhan
A close-up of the 'Donkey zebra'Mahmoud Sarhan

"From the first sight I knew that it was a donkey, not a zebra as I'm an artist,” Mahmoud Sarhan told Euronews. “I knew the shape of donkeys and also I knew the shape of zebras so it was easy to know.”

However, the zoo has denied that the zebra was fake.

International Garden municipal park is not the first zoo accused of trying to fool visitors.

A Gaza zoo painted two donkeys to look like zebras in 2009, while an animal described as an African lion at a Chinese zoo was exposed as a fraud in 2013 when it was revealed to be a Tibetan mastiff dog.

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