If variable equals value php [duplicate]

You are comparing, not assigning:

if ($type == 1){
  $type = "Bear"; 
}

You compare values with == or ===.

You assign values with =.

You could write less code to achieve the same result too, with a switch statement, or just a bunch of ifs without the elseifs.

if ($type == 1) $type = "Bear";
if ($type == 2) $type = "Cat";
if ($type == 3) $type = "Dog";

I would make a function for it, like this:

function get_species($type) {
    switch ($type):
        case 1: return 'Bear';
        case 2: return 'Cat';
        case 3: return 'Dog';
       default: return 'Jeff Atwood';
    endswitch;
}

$type = get_species($row['ttype']);