San Diego Zoo has offended citizens of both New Zealand and Australia after using Māori dancers for its Australia exhibit.
The zoo showed off the dancers during a Facebook Live stream on Thursday (local time), and viewers were quick to point out the mistake.
"If it's walkabout Australia, why do you have New Zealand Māori at the start? You know New Zealand and Australia are 2 different countries," one angry viewer wrote.
But the zoo doubled down on its error and said Māori were native to both countries. Commenters were not impressed.
"As a New Zealander, I can confirm that statement is incorrect," one commenter said.
"As an Australian, I can also confirm that is incorrect," another replied.
Staff at the zoo eventually realised they were in the wrong and edited their comments to say they had received the wrong information.
"Our sincere apologies. We were given incorrect information.
"The various entertainment featured recently in Walkabout Australia is a preview of our upcoming event Summer Safari, which features entertainment from all over the globe."
The dancers were not there for the exhibit's entire opening weekend, but will apparently be part of the zoo's "Summer Safari" series.
Newshub.
