Mysuru: The images of the charred dead animals in the Bandipur forest fire have now gone viral faster than the flames that engulfed the forest. The heart-wrenching images that are on everybody’s Whatsapp and Facebook are now proven to be fake.
According to reality check conducted by ‘The News Minute’ the charred bodies of animals that were circulated on social media, especially a charred snake, orangutan, rabbit and flock of sheep are all fake.
The charred snake’s image is verified to be from a fire incident that occurred in Necoclí region, which was released by Antioquia department in April 2015. Similarly, a charred rabbit was from Woolsey fire incident of November 2018, charred orangutans released by Center of Orangutan Protection in March 2016, and a charred flock of sheep of wildfire in Darnius on July 2012.
While the firefighters and forest officials are busy getting the raging fire under control, the news of these fake images being circulated had definitely created a sense of gloom.
Meanwhile, newskarnataka.com contacted one of the forest officials of Bandipur forest reserve based on the images circulated for which he said that he himself was not sure of the photographs that were circulated on the social media, as there was no official confirmation on the photographs released by the forest department.
When thousands of acres of forest land is burning in high intensity fire, some of the fake news mongers have intensified the spread of information in a negative direction.
