(CBS/WTVR/AP) VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Some residents of Virginia Beach got a scare Tuesday night, when they mistook a 3-year-old Labradoodle for a lion cub thanks to the animal’s unusual haircut.
Daniel Painter’s dog, “Charles the Monarch,” so resembles the king of the jungle, police received a call Tuesday of a baby lion on the loose. Police contacted the nearby Norfolk Zoo to make sure their two lions were in their cages, which they were.
Newly released 911 tapes capture residents’ surprise and confusion at seeing Charles, CBS affiliate WTVR reports.
“And there was a lion that ran across the street, a baby lion,” one woman can be heard telling a 911 operator.
She adds: “It was about the size of a Labrador retriever.”
“I saw a lion. A baby lion!” another man tells 911. “It had the mange [sic] and everything.”
According to WTVR, Painter groomed his dog in honor of the Old Dominion University mascot Big Blue the lion.
Because Painter and Charles live near the zoo, Painter says this isn’t the first time people have been fooled by the pooch, the station reports.
“I’ve seen ‘em literally dive through the window to get in the car thinking a lion is after them,” he reportedly told CNN. “
So funny!!