Curious guests flock to Chinese language zoo after viral video of ‘faux’ bear

A zoo in China has been drawing 20,000 guests a day after a video went viral displaying one of its bears standing on its hind legs — main many individuals to imagine that the furry creature is definitely only a human in a fancy dress.

There was a 30% improve in customer numbers at Hangzhou Zoo within the jap Zhejiang province a day after the video of the Malaysian solar bear named Angela standing remarkably upright in its enclosure lit up Chinese language social media over the weekend, reported Chao Information.

“After seeing this bear standing up on the web, I needed to see the way it seems to be in actual life, so I got here right here,” stated a person with the final identify You, who added that he didn’t totally imagine the video he noticed on-line.

Many social media customers who watched the video shot on the zoo commented on the bear’s suspiciously skinny legs and folds of fur-covered pores and skin that made Angela appears as if it was an individual sporting an ill-fitting bear swimsuit.

“After we noticed the video on the Web, we specifically took the high-speed prepare from Suzhou to return over to see the bear,” one other customer, Qian Ming, instructed a Hangzhou TV station. “We travelled in a single day final night time to get right here. The bears are so cute.”

Within the viral clip posted final Thursday, the solar bear could be seen standing on its hind legs and stretching its neck out because it stares at guests watching from exterior its enclosure, earlier than sitting again down.

“If that is faux it deserves an Oscar for particular results,” commented one person on the Weibo microblog platform.

The furor surrounding the solar bear has pressured the zoo to disclaim that Angela was an individual in a fancy dress in posts on its official WeChat account and in interviews with native media shops, insisting that the critter is “positively not a human”.

“Our zoo is government-run, in order that form of state of affairs wouldn’t occur,” a staffer stated, in keeping with native media.

An announcement launched by the zoo, written as if it was from Angela, stated that the rumors surrounding the Malaysian solar bear have been rooted in a misunderstanding.

“Some folks assume I stand like an individual. It appears you don’t perceive me very properly,” the be aware stated.

Zoo employees additionally identified that an individual sporting a furry bear swimsuit wouldn’t have survived lengthy within the area’s 100-degree summer time warmth.

“If you happen to placed on a fur swimsuit, you actually couldn’t final various minutes with out mendacity down,” an official stated.

Animal rights group PETA stated that this incident highlights how all zoo animals, together with Angela the bear, ought to be moved to sanctuaries and wildlife reserves that “prioritize the well-being of animals.”

“These extremely smart and social beings need to reside freely and thrive of their pure surroundings, not used as mere spectacles for human leisure,” Jason Baker, PETA Asia Vice President, stated in an announcement Tuesday.

Malaysian solar bears, the smallest bears on the earth, are solely in regards to the dimension of a big canine. At their largest, they’re about 4 ft, 2 inches tall whereas standing on their hind legs, in comparison with grizzly bears, which could be as much as 9 ft tall.

This isn’t the primary time {that a} Chinese language zoo has been suspected of deceiving its guests. Prior allegations included passing off donkeys as zebras and portray canine to resemble wolves.

With Submit wires