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| - Fact Check: This video DOES NOT show former footballer Philemon Mulala being mauled to death
An old video is being shared on social media with claims that it shows former Zambian footballer Philemon Mulala being mauled to death by his own dogs.
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India Today Fact Check
Mulala died on January 7 after he was mauled to death by his own three dogs in Lichtenburg, South Africa. However, this video is at least five years old and therefore has nothing to do with his death.
Former Zambian national football star Philemon Mulala died on January 7 after he was mauled to death by his own three dogs in Lichtenburg, South Africa. The football community has been in mourning since.
Following the news of his death, a disturbing video has been making the rounds on social media. It purportedly shows a man being attacked by two dogs, seemingly in the backyard of a house.
A Twitter user shared this video and wrote, “Former Zambian footballer, Philemon Mulala mauled to death by his three pit bulls in South Africa. It's okay to blame the ones recording but if you were close to the scene what will you do?”
Another person shared the same video and claimed, “Former Zambian Footballer Philemon Mulala was mauled to death by His own pit bull dogs.” An archived version of similar claims can be seen here, here, and here.
AFWA's investigation found that the viral video is at least five years old and has nothing to do with Mulala’s death.
AFWA Probe
A reverse search of keyframes from the viral video led us to many similar videos of pit bulls mauling humans to death. One of those videos was the longer version viral video. It was uploaded to YouTube on May 14, 2018. The one-minute-long video had over seven thousand views at the time of writing this. The video was titled, “Pitbull attack people.”
Further searches led us to the same video on YouTube that was shared even earlier. The video was uploaded on December 11, 2017, and was titled in Russian: “Don't piss off the dogs”. This confirmed that the video is at least five years old.
When we tried to search for the video of Philemon Mulala being attacked by his dogs, we found none. As per ESPN, Mulala was discovered by his wife and later declared dead on the scene.
Police spokesperson Captain Sam Tselanyane said in a statement: "She did not bother to go and check what was wrong [when the dogs were barking] as their house is situated on a busy street and the dogs frequently barked at pedestrians and vehicles passing by. After the electricity was restored [after loadshedding], she went inside looking for her husband, but could not find him. Upon continuing with her search, the woman saw her husband lying motionless outside in the garden. She then went outside, only to find that the husband was bitten by their dogs."
According to the Daily Mail, Mulala's three dogs included two staffie or pit bull crossings and one unknown breed. Reportedly, the dogs were removed from the premises by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after the incident.
So, while we could not find the source of the video in our investigation, it is more than clear that the viral video is not recent and has nothing to do with Mulala’s death.
(Written by Ashish Kumar)
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