Moose, royalty star in April 1 shenanigans

Several organisations decided to bend the truth for April 1. Photo: supplied

If you were fooled yesterday morning — relax, you were not the only one.

April 1 is a tricky environment to navigate, as readers have to be especially sharp-eyed to separate fact from fiction.

The Otago Daily Times was first out the blocks with a story claiming the new Dunedin hospital project had been disrupted by the presence of a velvet worm.

Photo: supplied

Comments on the story included "well we probably won't get the hospital there now" and "Dunedin is so ridiculous for a second I believed this".

Other fanciful April 1 claims around Dunedin included rail enthusiast and city council candidate Jarrod Hodson saying he had added a jumbo jet to his collection of trains for his garden railway in Ravensbourne.

Meanwhile, the Dunedin City Council posted on social media there was a "loose moose" sighted in Chingford Park.

Photo: supplied

Coastguard Dunedin announced it had managed to buy a yellow submarine and it was accepting applications for ship’s captain.

Wheels at Wānaka said it had received a letter from Prince Harry and his wife Meghan confirming their appearance at the tractor show in Wānaka as part of their Easter vacation to New Zealand.

The "letter" from Harry, which it posted on its Facebook page, says the pair will touch down in Queenstown on April 18, and secretly host their plane there.

Photo: supplied

It also "advises" Wheels at Wānaka that Meghan "can also be a little picky about what she eats as you will no doubt find out".

"For goodness sake don't serve anything that has been killed."

Forsyth Barr Stadium might have left some people a bit sheepish after posting on social media it was using sheep as lawnmowers as part of its "sustainability update".