Japanese actress caught in sheep 'poodle' scam [Sheep sold as poodles]

The Register ^ | 26 April 2007 | Lester Haines

[Fractal Trader]

A Japanese actress inadvertantly blew the lid off a scam which had duped thousands of women into buying coiffured sheep in the belief they were poodles, the Evening Standard reports.

Maiko Kawakami appeared on a TV talk show with snaps of her pet, and admitted she wondered why it "didn't bark and refused to eat dog food". She was soon set straight - her dog was in fact a sheep.

The revelation provoked a stream of women to contact the cops with "similar problems". The powers that be reckon that as many as 2,000 have fallen victim to the audacious ovine poodle con, perpetrated by internet company "Poodles as Pets", which offered the animals at £630 a pop.

A police spokesman told The Sun: "We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company was 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 and Australia."

In case you're wondering how on God's Green Earth you could mistake a sheep for a dog, the Standard explains that poodles are "extremely rare in Japan, with many people having little idea what they look like". No, we're not convinced either.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Can’t be serious.

Please tell me people aren’t this stupid!

[windcliff]

Talk about being stupid.

[NRA2BFree]

I googled for an image of a sheep that had been groomed to look like a sheep, and this is the first picture I found. LOL

[the OlLine Rebel]

This is the perfect time to use teh word,

“SHEEPLE”.

[Constitution Day]

Maiko Kawakami appeared on a TV talk show with snaps of her pet, and admitted she wondered why it "didn't bark and refused to eat dog food".
She was soon set straight - her dog was in fact a sheep.

[No Truce With Kings]

What’s so bah-ah-ah-ad about what she is doing?

I guess unsatisfied customers have to bleat about this.

[JenB]

LOL!

[Silly]

At least they can eat the sheep once they find out what they are.

[llevrok]

Can’t be serious.

EWE Can’t be serious?

[tertiary01]

Here’s a link to the N Korea giant rabbit raising “venture”.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Quirks&article=UPI-1-20070405-12495900-bc-germany-giantrabbits.xml

[Daffynition]

This could happen to anyone. It is impossible to tell them apart...owners included.

[bert]

This is the funniest thread in a long time. We chide New Yorkers for their insular ignorance but appareantly Tokyoans are worse.

[tertiary01]

I wonder if they were able to train them not to poo indoors.

[tertiary01]

Ping

[LongElegantLegs]

<----------A SHEEP.

<----------NOT A SHEEP.

[sticker]

She doesn’t appear to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier:

[dighton]

The swindle might work in reverse, say, on drunk New Zealanders, by marketing Bedlington terriers as Pretty Baa-Lambs.

[snowsislander]

I am not sure if this is a hoax or not. I did a little searching, and while there are a few stories in the English press, I didn't spot anything on any Japanese websites.

I didn't spend a lot of time on this and I could have easily missed it, but my guess would have been that I would have found lots of hits on the first search, even if my search terms weren't very good.

[theFIRMbss]

>“SHEEPLE”

Maybe if they spent less time playing with toy dogs they would know real dogs!

[NRA2BFree]

I guess they could groom one of these to look more like a poodle.