Amid the recent controversy surrounding the Telangana's government move to clear land around University of Hyderabad, two videos are being circulated to claim that they show animals running away from bulldozers.
An X (formerly Twitter) premium user shared a video with a caption that said, "Someone sent me this video saying these lions got panicked by bulldozers's in #HCU and running towards #Erravallifarmhouse and #Janwadafarmhouse for shelter."
The above post had garnered over two million views on the platform.
A different video, which showed what appeared to be a deer running towards light, went viral with users linking it to the ongoing situation in Telangana.
What are the facts?: The claims are false. Both the videos are old and unrelated to the recent land clearance controversy in Telangana.
What about the first video?: On performing a reverse image search on the keyframes of the clip, we came across the same visuals posted on a Facebook handle called 'Thegujaratkesari'.
It was published on 11 November 2024 with a caption that loosely translated to, "There are herds of lions too!: A group of 12 lions was seen passing by the road near Rajula's Kovaya."
News report: A report published by Navbharat Times mentioned that a pride of 15-20 lionesses were seen entering the residential area of Gir, who ran towards to the forest after seeing camera and light.
About the second video: A simple Google Lens search directed us to the same video uploaded on a verified YouTube channel called 'ViralHog'.
It was posted on 1 February 2023 and its title said, "Confused Fawn Runs Toward Headlight || ViralHog."
The video's description identified the location as the United States and said that the incident had reportedly taken place on 9 May 2022.
Conclusion: While we could not identify the locations of the clips independently, it is clear that they are old and unrelated to the recent controversy in Telangana.
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