Restaurant Busted For Selling Donkey Flesh Marinated In Tiger Urine

SHANGHAI, China -- Tiger, donkey. Whatever.

A restaurant in northeastern China that advertised illegal tiger meat dishes was found instead to be selling donkey flesh -- marinated in tiger urine, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The Hufulou restaurant, located beside the Heidaohezi tiger reserve near the city of Hailin, had advertised stir-fried tiger meat with chilies for $98, as well as liquor flavored with tiger bone for $74 a bottle, the China Daily reported.

Raw meat was priced at $864 per kilogram.

The sale of tiger parts is illegal in China and officers shut down the restaurant, only to be told by owner, Ma Shikun, that the meat was actually that of donkeys flavored with tiger urine to give the dish a "special" tang, the paper said.

Authorities confiscated the restaurant's profits and fined Ma $296.

Before changing his story, Ma claimed meat came from dead tigers sold to him by the management of the Heidaohezi reserve. Heidaohezi's director denied that.