Wool pulled over eyes of poodle buyers

When it comes to pulling wool over the eyes ... the net is buzzing with a story about thousands of Japanese being swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.

Flocks of sheep were reportedly 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 reported 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 apparently crestfallen when told it was a sheep. So, it seems, sheep that good at playing the part of poodles.

The story goes that hundreds of other women got in touch with police to say they feared their new "poodle" was also a sheep.

It seems one presumably shortsighted 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 2000 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.