This deserves a Darwin Award
The most amusing part about this is the fact that tons of people were fooled by this. You'd think animal quarantine would have thought something odd was going on with all the sheep coming in. Read below-
Japanese fooled in poodle scam
April 26, 2007 - 8:59PM
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.
"We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles," Japanese police said, the The Sun reported.
"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."
Many of the sheep have now been donated to zoos and farms.
Now let's just look at some pictures here.
This is a solid white lamb. Aww, isn't he/she cute?
Now this is a standard poodle puppy.
Now this is a sheep's foot...notice the fact there are 2 hooves!
Now these are the footprints of various canine animals, including a dog.
I understand how you might be initially fooled if you aren't familiar with what a sheep looks like, but you'd think after a couple of days when the animal didn't act like a dog at all you might get a clue. I love the fact that a couple took their "dog" to a grooming salon only to find out it's paws were hooves. I know city kids in America who've only seen sheep on TV who would tell the difference.
Makes me want to go to Tokyo with a picture of a lamb and a poodle puppy and ask people which they think the dog is.
Japanese fooled in poodle scam
April 26, 2007 - 8:59PM
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.
"We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles," Japanese police said, the The Sun reported.
"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."
Many of the sheep have now been donated to zoos and farms.
Now let's just look at some pictures here.
This is a solid white lamb. Aww, isn't he/she cute?
Now this is a standard poodle puppy.
Now this is a sheep's foot...notice the fact there are 2 hooves!
Now these are the footprints of various canine animals, including a dog.
I understand how you might be initially fooled if you aren't familiar with what a sheep looks like, but you'd think after a couple of days when the animal didn't act like a dog at all you might get a clue. I love the fact that a couple took their "dog" to a grooming salon only to find out it's paws were hooves. I know city kids in America who've only seen sheep on TV who would tell the difference.
Makes me want to go to Tokyo with a picture of a lamb and a poodle puppy and ask people which they think the dog is.