You all know how... fond of sheep we here at ICO are (if not, just check the logo), so it was with great sadness when we read how these noble animals were used in a shamefull scam. It appears that unscrupulous people imported sheep from Australia and England into Japan and later sold them to (really) unsuspecting people as... poodles. You read it correct... poodles.

It seems these perceptive folk started to suspect something was wrong when a Japanese moviestar wondered why her new "poodle" didn't bark or eat dog food. Then, one couple became (became?) suspicious when they took their doggie to the vet, to have its claws trimmed and were then told it had hooves... Sherlock Holmes they were not.

The police quickly launched an operation to get to the bottom of this horrid affair. It seems up to 2000 people were fooled by these terrorists. There was a happy ending for the sheep though, as many were donated to zoos and farms (I swear we haven't received any). Click this link to read more about it. Here's one of the true victims: