Pictures of the painted donkeys have since gone viral on Chinese social media where people have slammed the zoo for mistreating animals and misleading visitors.
Taizhou Zoo later admitted that the "fake pandas" were in fact dyed chow chow pups who debuted their new look for the national holiday.
A CHINA zoo has been slammed for painting donkeys in black and white to look like zebras to attract more visitors.
Last year, the Taizhou Zoo in the country was slammed for painting dogs to look like pandas in a bid to draw in crowds.
Meanwhile, footage from China showed a dog painted as a tiger cub in another crooked Chinese zoo scam to lure in tourists.
