The news piece - mocked up to look like an article on bbc.co.uk, complete with official graphics - described how 42 members of the Cambodian Midget Fighting League took on a lion for a grudge match in the South-East Asian country.
"The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back," the article stated.
The outlandish story quickly circulated on the web, and even made it into the New York Post's "Weird But True" column.
The piece was a convincing hoax, but the BBC is not amused. The corporation tracked down the web server where the page was being hosted and had it removed in mid-May.
But the story has now found a new life in cyberspace - there is even a website selling Lions vs Midgets merchandise - and there is little the BBC can do to prevent it spreading.
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