The "New York Times" reported on 20 April that the article was being credited by all the French newspapers with the exception of the "", which preferred to believe that the corpses in question were those of animals rather than humans. "The New York Times" itself did not credit the story, pointing out that it appeared in early April and that German newspapers traditionally indulged in April Fools' Day pranks, and also that the expression "Kadaver" was not employed in current German usage to mean a human corpse, the word "Leichnam" being used instead. The only exception was corpses used for dissection—cadavers.