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The "Koala meat" that shocked an Australian tourist who saw it on a menu in Guangzhou last week turned out to be bamboo rat mislabeled for a promotion, according to the restaurant managers.

One of the tourists phoned a radio station in Australia to report his discovery, as well as the fact that a live koala was being exhibited in an iron cage in front of the restaurant in Hotel Fisher.

Hotel Fisher is known for its seafood and wildlife cuisine in Guangzhou, a city celebrated for its delicious dishes.

According to the menu, 500 grams of koala meat sold at 139 yuan.

"Koala meat can be fried, stewed and steamed," read the restaurant menu, the Australian tourist was quoted as telling Australian newspapers.

But Lin Aizhen, deputy general manager of the restaurant, denied the restaurant sold koala meat dishes and other cuisines cooked with wildlife that is under State protection.

"The Australian tourist was actually the victim of a false alarm, as the restaurant never sells koala," Lin said.

Huang Ritong, manager of the restaurant's purchasing department, said the animal displayed in front of the restaurant was actually a bamboo rat, which was purchased from the bordering Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region the previous month.

The restaurant purchased two bamboo rats weighing 5 to 6 kilograms each, and a kilogram of the bamboo rat changed hands at 80 yuan, Huang said.

The bamboo rat was labeled as koala because the seller mistook the bamboo rat as a koala.

An official from Guangzhou's Wildlife Protection Office also denied the restaurant sold koala meat.

"The animal exhibited in front of the restaurant is not a koala, despite being alike in appearances," an unnamed official was quoted as saying. "Koalas have round ears while the animal exhibited in the restaurant has only small ears, and the color of its fur is also quite different from that of a koala."

Koalas are protected by laws and regulations on the mainland and those who illegally slaughter and cook koala meat would be punished, he added.

Guangzhou became the first mainland city to have koalas after the city's Xiangjiang Safari Park in Panyu district imported three males and three females from Australia in April 2006.

The world's first koala twins were born at the park in 2006.

According to a staff member, the park now has 22 koalas from four generations.

（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.