Thursday, April 26, 2007

Dog Owners 'Fleeced' In Poodle Scam

"Thousands of people have been 'fleeced' into buying neatly coiffured lambs they thought were poodles.

Entire flocks of lambs were shipped over from the UK and Australia to Japan by an internet company and marketed as the latest 'must have' accessory.

But the scam was only spotted after a leading Japanese actress said her 'poodle' didn't bark and refused to eat dog food.

Maiko Kawakami, who starred in the Japanese thriller Violent Cop, showed photographs of her pet on a television talk show only to be told it wasn't a dog - but was in fact a lamb.

The discovery prompted hundreds of women to contact the police with similar problems and the authorities believe as many as 2,000 people have been conned.

'We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company was selling sheep as poodles,' a police spokesman told The Sun. "

Story at metro.co.uk

See a picture of the lamb/poodle at thesun.co.uk

"One couple found out the truth only after a dog beautician told them that she could not trim their poodle’s claws — because they were HOOVES."

Update: It never really happened, it was a scam read here. Also, debunked on snopes.com

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