Old 2019 puppy rescue video surfaces as part of Turkey Earthquake Rescue effort; Fact Check

Posted by: Arun Nag February 18, 2023

As the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has been making headlines, a video has gone viral with claims that it was showing how a man rescued puppies as their mother was anxiously moving around him recently. See the video and the claims that it was during the rescue operations of the latest earthquake-hit areas.

🇹🇷 🇸🇾 🙏#rescue teams, were able to save this puppy after 7 days buried from the earthquake in turkey! 🇹🇷 🇸🇾 #Turkey_earthquake #earthquaketurkey #HelpTurkey #Turcja #Turquie #Turquia #Turchia #earthquakeinsyria #Syria #depremzede #AhbapDernegi #earthquake #earthquakes. pic.twitter.com/rcIamjvxkx

— Abdul Ahad (@OneAahad) February 14, 2023

It has been shared here and here. The caption with the hashtag “TurkeyEarthquake,” implied that it was taken from Turkey. The viral clip has received thousands of likes and retweets on Twitter and Instagram.

FACT CHECK

When we saw the man in the video wearing no winter clothing, we checked the source of the video with a frame of the video on Youtube and on Google Reverse Image Search. The results showed that it was in fact an Indian video uploaded in 2019 showing how a man saved the dog’s puppies after a house collapsed due to heavy rains in Rajasthan.

The t-shirt of the man shows “AnimalAid Unlimited”, which is an NGO based in Udaipur that rescues and helps street animals. The video was originally shared by the NGO on their YouTube channel on August 8, 2019. The description states that the NGO was informed about a mother dog, frantically crying after her puppies got trapped under the rubble of a house that collapsed due to heavy rainfall. Soon, the NGO staff reached the spot and rescued the puppies as shown in this original video.

Hence, the video being circulated on the sidelines of Turkey earthquake rescue efforts was False.

Claim: Video shows puppies being rescued during the recent Turkey earthquake disaster.
Conclusion: The video was an old one from India.
Rating: Misrepresentation —