Help! My Poodle's a Sheep

This story has been making the rounds in Japan-related forums and blogs:

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.

It turns out the story is a hoax. Cerebral Soup debunks the story and news.com.au sets the record straight.

Update May 2, 2007

Now the story has been fully debunked. It's interesting how the mainstream media pestered the police in Sapporo. I suppose Japanese-are-weird stories trump real news every time.

TOKYO (AFP) - No one was more surprised than Japanese film star Maiko Kawakami to hear that her fluffy poodle was really a lamb in disguise.

The actress on Tuesday denied foreign media reports that she had been the victim of a scam by tricksters importing lambs from Australia and Britain to sell as poodles to thousands of unsuspecting rich Japanese women.

News of the reported hoax reached as far as Britain, the United States and Australia before police and Kawakami quashed it as untrue.

The British tabloid The Sun reported that the scam came to light after Kawakami complained on a television talk show that her new poodle refused to bark or eat dog food and that she was devastated when told it was a lamb.

"Ms. Kawakami is very surprised by how much this has spread overseas. She was just recounting on television how she had heard of such a story while she was at a nail salon," a spokeswoman for her talent agency said.

"Ms. Kawakami does not even own a poodle!" she added.

As a result of the international coverage, Kawakami -- who starred in Takeshi Kitano's Japanese thriller "Violent Cop" -- appeared on television again Tuesday to deny the reports.

Police in Sapporo, where the fraudulent company was reportedly based, also denied the sheepish tale.

"We have had inquiries from so many media -- CNN, CBS among others -- and all I can say is that that article is completely made up," a spokesman said.