Xiaomeisha Ocean World in Shenzhen, China had an unusual surprise for its visitors when the park reopened.
The big attraction was a whale shark, however on close inspection visitors noticed that the shark was fake and actually an animatronic animal. Needless to say, most visitors were furious and demanded a refund especially considering that tickets to the park cost the equivalent of nearly US$40/~€37.
In what is arguably one of the worst pieces of PR and justification, the park stated that it chose to put a robot on display and called it real because it is now illegal to trade in whale sharks since they are protected.
This is not the first, nor will be the last time Chinese aquariums and zoos have been liberal with the authenticity of their exhibits. Recently a park dyed a pair of chow dogs to look like pandas. When caught, they claimed that they displayed them as “Panda dogs,” not real pandas.
