Fact or Fiction

[me jane 0]

Looks like April Fool's reached Oz & the UK a bit late this year.

From last Friday's paper in Melborne

 Quote:

Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.

Flocks of sheep were imported to Japan and then sold by a company called Poodles as Pets, marketed as fashionable accessories, available at $1,600 each.

That is a snip compared to a real poodle which retails for twice that much in Japan.

The scam was uncovered when Japanese moviestar Maiko Kawamaki went on a talk-show and wondered why her new pet would not bark or eat dog food.

She was crestfallen when told it was a sheep.

Then hundreds of other women got in touch with police to say they feared their new "poodle" was also a sheep.

One couple said they became suspicious when they took their "dog" to have its claws trimmed and were told it had hooves.

Japanese police believe there could be 2,000 people affected by the scam, which operated in Sapporo and capitalised on the fact that sheep are rare in Japan, so many do not know what they look like.

 

There is an article here and another one here .

Apparently it started in Japan on some blog sites as an unban myth and somehow the foreign press got hold of the story. You can see here what's being said about it in Japanese

[indosnm 0]

the original one I saw

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=263297

 

then hours later a correction!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=263447

 

As if!

[thursday 1]

I heard this from a colleague last Friday and I thought it very plausible.