A Cairo zoo was accused of painting a donkey to look like a zebra

In a bizarre incident, a donkey was painted with black stripes and disguised as a zebra in a zoo in Cairo.

The fraud was intercepted by student Mahmoud A. Sarhan who was visiting a newly opened animal park called International Garden Municipal Park in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

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The images published by Mahmoud on his Facebook account, depict what is clearly not a zebra.
Apart from the patently stained painting on the poor animal's face, the alleged zebra also had drooping donkey ears and was considerably smaller than a medium zebra. The man also commented on the size of his ears – zebras have smaller ears than those of 'zebra'. of the Cairo Zoo

Can you spot the difference?

Mahmoud badumed that the zoo authorities had painted two donkeys and had supported it as zebras to attract visitors. According to Facebook's post, the photo was part of the documentation of "wild municipal reconstruction".

The picture obviously became viral and social media was soon split, trying to figure out what race the animal really was.

However, according to reports, the zoo authorities refused to accept the charge, claiming that the animals were indeed zebras.

While there was no way of knowing whether zebras were fake or authentic, social media had fun deconstructing the mystery.

The zoo manager denied on the local Cairo radio that it was a donkey. Maybe it will prove to be some kind of bizarre zebra crossing. Really a bit strange in terms of size, stripes. https://t.co/ba9VZ6Na16 pic.twitter.com/mZDTkd5ZWx

– Richard Horgan (@hollywoodspin) July 27, 2018

This is a bit unfair, you know, for zoos, because zebra are really hard to find. I've been to their aquarium in Cairo and the shark show is brilliant. A must! pic.twitter.com/5vIJtqSKSQ

– Jarlequin (@TheJarlequin) July 27, 2018

This is a funny story, but it raises suspicions that not everything was as it is appeared with this unicorn rose I caressed in Cairo. https://t.co/paIN8oXRSZ

– Ashley Vaughan (@AshleyDVaughan) July 27, 2018

Some people remembered previous experiences at the Cairo Zoo.

@BBCBreakfast Regarding the donkey / zebra at the Cairo Zoo – when I went to the zoo in 1982 we were shown what they said was a wolf – in fact it was a German Shepherd dog. discussed for the art half an hour, but they were categorical, he was a wolf! Terry Davies Swansea

– Peter Terence Davies (@ TerryTexas30) July 27, 2018

False zebras have appeared in zoos before as well. In 2009, authorities at a Gaza Zoo painted donkeys to look like zebras. All animals from the Marah Land Zoo in Gaza were smuggled in to escape the Israeli blockade. According to a BBC report, the owner of the zoo claimed that smuggling into real zebras would have cost about $ 40,000 more.

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