Italian Circus Passes Off Dogs As Pandas

Circuses are pretty controversial nowadays. Not because of the creepy creepy clowns but because of the use of animals in the performances. Some animal rights advocates say that the animals are often mistreated and at any rate animals shouldn't be used for entertainment. I remember going to the circus as a kid and enjoying seeing the wild animals that you don't see in your everyday life. But some circuses are certainly unscrupulous. Take the Orfei circus in Italy. They had a couple of pandas on display that were...odd. When an Italian animal advocacy group came to make sure the animals were being treated properly they realized that the pandas were in fact a pair of chow chow dogs painted to look like pandas. They said,

"As soon as our volunteers got closer they realized the animals had nothing to do with the East Asian bears but were chow chow dogs painted as pandas."

It just goes to prove that old saying, "Stay the F away from an Italian circus baring pandas."