One of the Chow Chow dogs seized by Italian authorities. Photo / Italy's State Forestry Corps
The dogs looked like dogs.
Then, after a lick of paint and a splash of dye, they looked like pandas. So much so that visitors to a travelling circus near the Italian town of Brescia had believed the Chow Chow dogs were a rare example of the Chinese bear.
The
white dogs, originally shipped from Hungary, were seized from the circus by authorities in Italy after a tip-off.
News website The Local reported that the dogs had been put on display, with children posing next to them as their parents paid a fee for the privilege.
The animals were said to be in good health, albeit with watery eyes, which could have been aggravated, police said, by "continuous exposure to camera flashes".
