An Italian circus has gotten into trouble for painting dogs to look like baby pandas.
The city in the city of Brescia was charging children to have their pictures painted with two panda cubs. When police followed-up and looked at the pandas, they found that they were dogs.
The dogs did appear to be in good health, although their eyes were a bit more watery than they should be, most likely from having too much exposure to camera flashes.
One feature that gave away their true identity is their purple tongue. Chow-chows and Shar-Peis are the only dog breeds with the strange-coloured tongue. Pandas have pink tongues like most animals.
When officials started to ask questions about the cubs, the owner of the circus said that they were a rare dog/panda hybrid, which is impossible because dogs and bears are two completely different species and cannot breed.
The dogs will be allowed to stay with their owners, so long as they are no longer used to impersonate baby pandas. However, they were brought to the country illegally with fake pet passports that said they were six months old, when in fact they are most likely younger.
The circus owner is now facing charges of animal abuse and defrauding his customers.
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