Cairo zoo accused of painting donkeys like zebras

CAIRO

A zoo in Egypt's capital Cairo has denied painting black stripes on a donkey to make it look like a zebra, following a series of images which appeared online.

Mahmoud Sarhan, an Egyptian student, posted pictures of the animal on Facebook after visiting Cairo’s International Garden park. He said the donkey enclosure featured two painted animals.

Although the zoo’s director, Mohamed Sultan, insisted his zebras were 100 percent legit to local radio station Nogoum FM, a local vet told the Cairo-based ExtraNews.TV that a zebra’s snout should be black and the stripes should be more consistent and parallel, according to the BBC.

CBS News also notes that zebras and donkeys, despite both bearing a resemblance to horses, are different species.

Other zoos have also been accused of trying to gray the area between zebras and donkeys.

In 2010, a zoo in Gaza painted stripes on two donkeys it purchased for $700 because they were much cheaper than the $30,000 zebras.