A division bench of the Telangana High Court has postponed the hearing on the alleged destruction of the Kancha Gachibowli forest. In February, the Telangana government announced plans to auction approximately 400 acres of forested land near the University of Hyderabad for the development of IT parks. This move sparked widespread protests, particularly among students. Amid the unrest, several unrelated videos have been circulating on social media, falsely claimed to depict the Kancha Gachibowli forest. Lighthouse Journalism conducted a detailed fact-check of these videos and compiled the findings in a dedicated fact-check article.
Claim:
There are several videos that Lighthouse Journalism came across, some claiming the deer wandering on the streets near the forest, or some featuring elephants putting up a tough fight with the JCBs.
Here are some videos that have been widely circulating.
Investigation:
We started the investigation into these videos by checking these one by one.
Video 1:
Check the video here and here.
The above video claims that the lions have taken to the streets after their natural habitat was destroyed. We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video after uploading it in the InVid tool.
This led us to a video uploaded on Facebook, on the page, ‘The Gujarat Kesari’. The video was uploaded on 11th November 2024.
The caption stated: There are herds of lions too!: A group of 12 lions was seen passing by the road near Rajula’s Kovaya
We also found a few news reports about the same.
Video 2:
We ran a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from this video.
We found the video uploaded on Facebook in 2020.
The caption stated: Beautiful! A family of Sambhars stroll down the road in Haridwar during the lockdown! As humans retreat to their homes animals venture out even in India! The sign of a good curfew is wild animals on the road! Well done Haridwar!
Another post too mentioned that the video was from Haridwar.
We also found a news report mentioning the incident published in 2020.
Video 3:
The video shows an elk or a deer outside a home, with residents offering water. Lighthouse Journalism ran a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the same. Through this we found a video on Instagram.
The caption said: This is an old video I used to convey my message to save biodiversity but not a fake one or AI generated.
A comment on this said: This video is from Visakhapatnam’s Visalakshi Nagar in Vizag, not from HCU in Hyderabad. Please do not spread fake images or false information about animals in HCU. Let’s be responsible and verify facts before sharing. Misinformation can lead to unnecessary panic and confusion.
We then ran a keyword search on the same. We found a post on Facebook from March. The caption said that a deer was roaming in Vishalakshi Nagar in Vishakhapatnam.
Video 4:
This video shows an elephant tackling a JCB. It was claimed that the video is from Kancha Gacchibowli. We ran a simple keyword search about the same and found a video posted on YouTube channel of Kanak News.
We also found a news report about the incident.
The report said: A shocking video has captured the moment a wild elephant attacked an excavator after being allegedly provoked by locals. The incident occurred in the Damdim area of West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri on February 1, when the elephant emerged from the Apalchand Forest in search of food. According to reports, locals allegedly harassed and chased the elephant, prompting it to charge at onlookers and then target the construction equipment and a nearby watchtower.
Video 5:
This video showcased an elephant hurt on the trunk. We ran a reverse image search on the keyframe and found the video on Instagram handle of Nature Geography. The video was uploaded on March 22.
The caption said: The elephant, injured in a big fight, has gotten used to living like this. Another elephant’s big tusk probably got into this elephant’s trunk and unfortunately pierced it. Since the wound is in a risky place, tissue taken from another area will be stitched here.
We also found the video uploaded on Instagram handle of Tendai Moyo. The video was uploaded on December 13, 2024. The caption stated: Mysteries of nature
Video 6:
The video showed an elephant being lifted up using a JCB. We ran a reverse image search on the keyframes this led us to a YouTube video. The video was uploaded a year ago.
We found a longer version of the video uploaded six years ago on the YouTube channel, ‘cp wild lanka’. The visuals from the viral video can be seen after seven minutes in this video. The description of the video said: This elephant was attacked by a another fellow tusker in Horoupothana. A team of wildlife officers injecting medicine to the animal as a treatment for the wounds but unfortunately the animal died due to severe injuries.
Video 7:
This video features a bird trying to extinguish a fire on a nearby bush. We ran a reverse image search on the keyframe from the video, which led us to a video uploaded in November 2024, suggesting that the video is old.
A Reddit user shared that the magpie was removing the parasite. The post was about 4 months old.
Conclusion: Unrelated videos of animal injuries and man-animal conflict are being shared as recent linking these to the recent Kancha Gachibowli controversy in Telangana. The viral videos are unrelated, and the viral claim is misleading.
