Fact Check: Touching image of kangaroo hugging woman has no relation to Australian bush fires
The devastating bush fires in Australia have triggered several heart-wrenching images of trapped animals on social media. Several comforting pictures of humans rescuing animals are also available on the Internet.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
The kangaroo was rescued as an orphan three years ago by the staff of an Australian kangaroo sanctuary
The devastating bush fires in Australia have triggered several heart-wrenching images of trapped animals on social media. Several comforting pictures of humans rescuing animals are also available on the Internet.
One such picture of a kangaroo snuggling a woman has gone viral. Facebook page Chennai Memes claims that the kangaroo is hugging a volunteer after being rescued from bush fire. The post is carried along with the caption heart breaking ! and hashtag #AustralianBushFires
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. This kangaroo was rescued as an orphan by the staff of an Australian sanctuary. The image is more than three years old and has no relation to the bush fires.
Till the filing of this story, the post was liked’ by more than 5,300 users and shared over 870 times. The archived version can be seen here.
AFWA probe
Though many Facebook users have shared the viral post believing it to be related to the Australian bush fires, some have also raised doubts about the authenticity of the claim.
One such user, Ashok Kumar, referred to an old article in a website called boredpanda. The viral image can be seen in this article. The article has given image credit to The Kangaroo Sanctuary Alice Springs.
We found that on October 1, 2016, the Facebook page of The Kangaroo Sanctuary Alice Springs had put out a video of a kangaroo named Queen Abi cuddling a woman. The viral image is taken from this video.
Animal welfare website the dodo published an article on Queen Abi on October 6, 2016. The article had the same video and similar images of the kangaroo. It reported that Abigail (in short Abi) was an orphaned joey rescued by the care staff of the kangaroo sanctuary in Australia’s Alice Springs. The animal developed a strong bonding with the staff and used to snuggle them in gratitude and love.
The Australian bush fires have killed thousands of animals, including kangaroos and koalas. Locals and volunteers have rescued several trapped animals. These reports can be seen here and here. But this image of a kangaroo hugging a woman has no connection with the recent bush fires in Australia.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com