This story may indeed be too funny to be true. I did a search and found it has only been picked up by a few newspapers in Australia and Britain. It does not appear in the Japanese press, and no US papers have run it. All of the stories are based on this first one that ran in The Sun:


Ewe've been had;Exclusive

Virginia Wheeler
310
4/26/2007
The Sun
English
(c) 2007 News Group Newspapers. All rights reserved

Pet shop fleeces Japanese by selling lambs as poodles THOUSANDS of rich women were conned by a firm into believing LAMBS were valuable miniature POODLES.

Entire flocks were imported to Japan from the UK and Australia then sold by the internet company as the latest "must have" pet.

The bizarre scam was rumbled when Japanese movie star Maiko Kawakami complained on a talk show that her new poodle refused to bark or eat dog food.

She showed photos of the animal and was devastated when told that it was a lamb.

Hundreds of women contacted police to say that they had also been sold lambs instead of pedigree pups by the tricksters based in Sapporo, Japan.

Cops believe that up to 2,000 people across the country had been swindled in the same way. 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.

The company, whose name translated as Poodles As Pets, has now been shut down.

Bosses took advantage of the fact sheep are rare in Japan and most people do not know what they look like.

They advertised poodles online for Pounds 630 -half the price of the highly-desired puppies in Japan at Pounds 1,260.

A police spokesman said yesterday: "We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles.

"Sadly, we think there is more than one company operating in this way.

"The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas -Britain, Australia."

Most of the people caught out by the scam are donating the sheep to zoos and farms.

v.wheeler@the-sun.co.uk

See the cutest REAL puppies at thesun.co.uk/reallife

(C) The Sun, 2007


But on line blogs like this one have found some holes in the story.


Media flock to report on Japanese poodle scam

So in several online papers it has been claimed that there is a massive pet scam going on involving people in Hokkaido buying poodles online and getting sheep instead. And not realizing it.

They are trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Even though each story has a different writer they are all possibly derived from the Sun.

Let's look at the "facts" from one of the first stories that seemed to crop up online: ninemsn.

"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."

Actually this is not what happened. Maiko Kawakami (Nine couldn't even get her name right) went on an afternoon TV show called "Gokigenyou" and said she had heard this story.

kana to yuka no nikki [Japanese] mentions how she saw this program and thought it was silly. Most of her commenters agree, and sounds as if she was just making a joke. There is no mention of photographs - and another couple of blogs support that the actress was not talking about herself but a "friend".

"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."

OK for starters Hokkaido is not a huge place - and it just happens to be the centre of sheep breeding in Japan. There are even sheep festivals. Not to mention the following:

- Haruki Murakami's famous novel published in 1993- A Wild Sheep Chase (羊をめぐる冒険)
- once every 12 years there is a Year of the Sheep
- mutton is often talked about because of it's recent popularity, and the rise of "Genghis Khan" restaurants (places specializing in mutton dishes)
- hell even a couple of weeks ago Japanese band Metalmouse released their new album titled Tales of the Sheep

So sheep are very well known - especially in bloody Sapporo.

From the Sun: "The company, whose name translated as Poodles As Pets, has now been shut down."

Well they certainly don't muck around because there is no reference to any pet store real or offline that I could find googling with a name like that (or closest Japanese variations thereof).

Also let's look at the fact that as far as popular dogs go Toy Poodles are in the top 5. They are all over the TV. You can't miss them. Not only that but there are also several Japanese websites dedicated to poodles, poodle clubs and breeder sites. You can't walk into a pet store without seeing one. Poodles are everywhere.

Plus it seems very odd that this breaking story does not appear anywhere in the Japanese media. Now this is exactly the kind of story most news shows would spend hours on screening - complete with tearful, blurred out victims, and the anchors being able to express total outrage. Thorough investigations into the differences between poodles and lambs. A few "experts" in ties thrown in to give it all credibility. For sure Wai-wai would have jumped all over it months ago (and then Fark and every community blog and their dog).

Not a peep.

And if this wasn't already smelling bad enough - how about this blog entry [Japanese] from 上海在住Jasonの麻辣珍道中！ - from waaaaaaay back on February 11, 2006?

He tells the exact same story as the actress - which was told to him by a co-worker when they went out drinking. Almost word for word it is the same story that Maiko Kawakami told on the TV show on April 18. X-san takes their "poodle" to a vet because they think it's ill. The vet reveals that the "poodle" is not ill - but a sheep! （笑）

Looks like this is an urban legend that makes the rounds occasionally. This time however the English media got caught out.

The Sun: "A police spokesman said yesterday: “We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles."

Yes I'm sure The Sun spoke to a Japanese police spokesman and they launched an investigation based on some urban legend they've probably all heard before.

Dags.


I guess they may have pulled the wool over our eyes. Tom.