A zoo in China has been attracting 20,000 visitors a day after a video went viral showing one of its bears standing on its hind legs — leading many to believe that the bear is actually just a human in a costume. See for yourself:

This is a real bear, not a human dressed in costumes! A four-year-old Malayan sun bear named Angela in a Hangzhou zoo went viral on China’s social media as a video showed the world’s smallest bear standing upright and waving to tourists just like a human. pic.twitter.com/Azv2tTVJhv

— Yicai Global 第一财经 (@yicaichina) August 1, 2023

Honestly? I don’t know what to think. Does it look like a human in a bear suit? Absolutely. But then look at how the bear starts to walk away from the crowd around the 12 second mark in the clip below:

Visitors are thronging a zoo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province after a video of one of its bears went viral with some netizens suggesting she looked so human that she might be a staff member in a bear suit, local media reported https://t.co/ZttIlc73rv 1/4 pic.twitter.com/OnaGC21R4V

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 1, 2023

That’s a bear! Humans just don’t move like that. Then again, this is all happening in China, so who knows what the truth is? If there’s any country in the world I would expect to get a human to dress up as a bear and try to play it off as the real thing, it’s China. Poor guy/gal must be sweating their balls/vag off in that thing.

In any case, Hangzhou Zoo has released a statement insisting that the Malayan Sun Bear, named Angela, is 100% real. They even issued their statement from the perspective of Angela herself:

“I’m Angela the sun bear – I got a call after work yesterday from the head of the zoo asking if I was being lazy and skipped work today and found a human to take my place.

Let me reiterate again to everyone that I am a sun bear – not a black bear, not a dog – a sun bear!”

A zoo employee reiterated the sentiment:

“Our zoo is government-run, so that kind of situation would not happen. The temperature in the summer is nearly 40 degrees, if you put on a fur suit, you certainly couldn’t last more than a few minutes without lying down.”

Well, that’s true, but again – this is China we’re talking about. Saying the zoo couldn’t possibly be lying because it’s government-run is just a little bit laughable, but then what do you expect them to say?

At the end of the day, if Angela the Malayan Sun Bear really is a human in a costume, they’re never going to admit it. After much consideration though, I’ve decided I do believe them.

Hey, can you blame me for being hesitant after the whole debacle with the weirdo in the collie costume?