New Mohamed Salah Statue Mocked Online

This picture shows a statue of Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah displayed at the World Youth Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh. (AFP)
This picture shows a statue of Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah displayed at the World Youth Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh. (AFP)
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New Mohamed Salah Statue Mocked Online

This picture shows a statue of Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah displayed at the World Youth Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh. (AFP)
This picture shows a statue of Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah displayed at the World Youth Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh. (AFP)

A statue of Egypt and Liverpool footballer Mohamed Salah has been mocked since going on display in his home country.

The statue was unveiled with pomp and ceremony at the World Youth Forum in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in the presence of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

With large ears poking out from under a huge Afro hairstyle, Salah is captured in the pose of his now iconic goal celebration.

A broad smile is etched across his face and his oversized head is tilted backwards as the arms on his pint-sized body are stretched out wide.

Salah is idolized in Egypt and Liverpool, after his goal-scoring exploits last season took his country to the World Cup finals and his English club to the final of the Champions League.

The statue of him been mocked widely on social media, with many likening its appearance to that of 1970s British singer Leo Sayer or his American counterpart Art Garfunkel, reported AFP.

"People thought Cristiano Ronaldo's statue was bad. Wait till you see Mo Salah's," one Twitter user wrote, referring to the bronze bust ridiculed for looking nothing like the Portuguese football superstar.

"Statue carved by Stevie Wonder by the looks of it!" tweeted another, in reference to the blind US musician.

One social media user said Salah's statue looked like a "bobble head" -- the dolls placed on the dashboards of cars with oversized heads that nod incessantly.

"Yes, it's a statue, but where is Mohamed Salah?" said a post on Facebook.

The Egyptian artist who sculpted the statue, Mai Abdallah, has defended her work.

Abdallah said the statue had been made of plaster but became disfigured when the forum's organizers poured bronze over it, much to her surprise.

She said the statue was originally only meant to be used teach sculpture to students, in a post on Facebook where she also shared her other statues of Egyptian celebrities, reported AFP.



Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
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Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  

Two young bears escaped from their enclosure at a UK wildlife park and devoured a week's worth of food store honey before falling asleep, the park said on Tuesday.

Mish and Lucy, both aged four, got out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon in southwestern England on Monday afternoon, according to CBS News.

The pair made a beeline for their food store where they scoffed snacks, including the seven-day supply of honey, a park statement said.

The bears “posed no threat to the public at any point” although visitors on site were escorted to a secure building as a precaution.

During the hour-long drama, the bears were “continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV” until they were returned to their enclosure by keepers and promptly “fell asleep,” Wildwood added.

“Our experienced keeping team acted immediately, following established safety protocols, and successfully used recall training to encourage both bears back into their enclosure without the need for any intervention,” the park said.

Police were at the scene and an investigation was underway to determine how the animals managed to break out. The park said an “operational error” allowed the bears to escape, without elaborating.

“This was an isolated incident, and we are conducting a full internal investigation to understand exactly how it happened and to ensure robust measures are in place to prevent a reoccurrence," the park wrote on social media.

It added, “While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously.”

The park, which covers 40 acres of gardens and woodland, is home to an array of wildlife including brown bears, wolves and arctic foxes.

Mish and Lucy were taken in by Wildwood in 2021 after being abandoned by their mother in a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains.

Several attempts were made to reintroduce the cubs into the wild but it became clear to conservationists that they could not survive on their own.