Ever since the Kung Fu Panda movies, people have been gushing over these cute animals. Many of us watch baby panda videos on social media to lift our mood. The panda craze even caused animal cafés in China to want to cash in on the animal’s fame. Hence they offered to let pet them (or so people thought). A café in China went too far to make a quick buck by advertising that animal lovers could dine with them and enjoy their meals next to the animal.
According to NDTV, this newly opened ‘panda café’ named ‘Cute Pet Games’ is based in China’s Chengdu. Since Chengdu is internationally known for the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and is home to the giant panda, people assumed the café had baby pandas, which they could pet.
But after a close inspection, it was found that the pandas (that were the main attraction here) were actually Chow Chow breed of dogs who were dyed to look like them, reported BBC.
It came to light when the cafe’s staff uploaded videos of its ‘panda dogs’ onto social media platforms to attract attention. Several videos of the six Chow Chow dogs with black dye around their eyes and ears, resembling China’s national animal have been circulating on the internet. It took people no time to realize that there weren’t baby pandas in the video, but in fact, canines who were dyed.
https://youtu.be/LnfhH_-9V-A
The cafe’s actions also raised concern over the quality of the dye used on the dogs and whether it was hazardous to their health.
But justifying his case, the owner of the café, Huang said to Mail Online, “Dyeing dogs to make them look like pandas is already very popular overseas. It’s controversial in China because it’s not commonly seen. Our dye was imported from Japan and very expensive. A tube of dye alone costs 800 yuan (Rs. 8000 approx.).”
He further added, “The dye that was used on the dogs was tailor-made for them and 100 per cent safe. Therefore, we bought the dye and hired specialists to put them on the dogs. I think the critics are too superficial and they don’t understand the trend. If mankind can pursue beauty, then so can pets. Although [the dogs] are not real pandas, we hope our customers can experience the panda culture in our shop,” Huang added.
Dyeing animals has become a fashion trend today. But how far is too far when it comes to their safety? What do you think about this? Tell us.