Sun drops the news: Anapka is a dead donkey

Remember the Sun's front page splash last year on how it had rescued parasailing donkey Anapka in Russia?

Today the Sun breaks the news that Anapka is a dead donkey.

It tells readers "Forgive us if we're sad today. The Sun's pet donkey died at her Moscow sanctury. We rescued Anapka from evil showmen who made her prasail over a holiday beach in Russia. Her last days were spent in peace and plenty, clad in a warm winter coat we sent her for Christmas. Readers were outraged at the cruelty inflicted on our gentle donkey. May she rest in peace."

The Sun can't resist ending on a pun: "Asses to asses dust to dust."

• Those spoilsports at the Guardian claimed the Sun was duped and bought the wrong donkey. It reported: "A Russian businessman has made an ass out of the Sun, according to reports in Moscow. Russia's own tabloid press said it's the wrong donkey. . .While Anapka "lives it up at the Kremlin riding school, getting hot baths, being rubbed with creams and taken to the solarium, it turns out it's all for nothing," the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily noted gleefully. The real four-legged victim, it said, was a donkey called Manya, and she remains by the Black Sea while Anapka – a fake, sold to the Sun for 70,000 roubles (£1,500) – revels in luxury."