A zookeeper has denied painting black stripes onto donkeys to make them look like zebras.

Mohamed Sultan denies that the animal at the International Gardens Park in Cairo is a fake despite experts saying that they look like donkeys.

Mahmoud Sarhan, 18, took pictures of the animals during a visit last weekend and it appears that some of the stripes have rubbed off.

Some of the stripes appeared to have started rubbing off in the heat (Picture: Caters)

Animal experts believe that it may be a donkey because it looks like a donkey (Picture: Caters)

Mahmoud said: ‘We finished our tour then we decided to take some pictures. When we went to the zebra side, there was only one zebra.


‘It came to us and the other one didn’t move, but when he came near to me, I realised from the first look that it was a painted donkey not a zebra.



‘People might realise that from the stripes. I sure felt shocked when people phoned me and asked me about this.’

Can you tell the difference between a donkey and a zebra? (Picture: Getty)

The donkeybra was discovered by Mahmoud Sarhan during a trip to the zoo in Cairo (Picture: Caters)

A number of vets have said that they believe it is a painted donkey despite Mr Sultan’s insistence that it isn’t a fake.

It wouldn’t be the first time that this has happened.

In 2009, a zoo in Gaza reportedly painted two donkeys black and white to replace zebras that had died of starvation.

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