Fact Check: Clearing greenery at Kancha Gachibowli made deer come onto streets? No, the video is from the year 2020
The Telangana Government’s decision to auction 400 acres of land inside the University of Hyderabad triggered protests
Claim :
Deer seen on the streets after destruction of green cover in HCU, animals are now in dangerFact :
The Video showing deer walking on the street is not from Hyderabad; it is an old video from the year 2020
The Telangana Government’s decision to auction 400 acres of land inside the University of Hyderabad triggered protests where students, teachers and activists have formed a Joint Action Committee to oppose the sale, demanding the land to be officially registered in the name of the University. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed. The High Court adjourned the hearing, posting the matter for further proceedings on May 24. The division bench observed that the case is currently sub-judice before the Supreme Court. Therefore, the High Court decided to defer further discussion until the Supreme Court hearing progresses. During the hearing, the High Court directed the state government and the police to file a counter-affidavit and submit a report by the next hearing date. Several issues related to the disputed land were brought to the court’s attention, prompting the bench to stress the need for comprehensive reports from all involved authorities. Meanwhile, the Gachibowli police have registered a case against those who shared an AI-generated video on social media relating to the issue. Several old images and videos are also in circulation on social media, linking them to Kancha Gachibowli.
The users are sharing a video showing 3 deers walking in a street at night time with text embedded on the video “Don’t let Revanth Reddy destroy HCU’s Green Cover- Speak up”. “Revanth reddy’s Destruction of HCU’s Green cover – Animals in Danger”. Some users shared this video with caption: “Save HCU biodiversity Preying the wildlife and the only forest cover, home to thousand animals in the name of development needs to stop! #savehcu #savehcubiodiversity #hcu #saveanimal #saveland #hyderabad”
Some shared with caption “Destruction of HCU How the deers are on roads . We are responsible. They lost there homes #Save HCU”
Here is the screenshot of the viral video.
Fact check:
The claim that the video shows deer walking in the streets of Hyderabad is False.
When we extracted keyframes from the viral video and searched them using Google reverse image search, we found that the video is an old one and does not show movement of deer due to recent Telagana Government decision. This video is from the year 2020, when the COVID lockdown was in place and there was no human activity. The animals were seen freely moving around during that time.
According to an article published on ibtimes on March 28, 2020, the seven-second video of the spotted deer shared on Twitter by a user, Saket, captioned it as, "And in Dehradun". Susanta Nanda of the Indian Forest Service retweeted the clip with the caption, "Here is Spotted Deer( Chital) on the lanes of Dehradun. Nature reclaiming thick and fast".
We also found a tweet published by IFS officer Susanta Nanda on March 27, 2020, stating, “Now Sambar deer herds on the road. Sender says that it’s near Rajaji National Park. Wildlife really claiming their space (For some Cynical about WL reclaiming it’s area on my earlier posts-This is a recent video. Effects of lockdown. Not fake)”
A similar news report states that after people of the country are locked down in homes due to coronavirus, the animals are reclaiming their land. The sambar deer were spotted walking on the streets in Uttarakhand.
According to an article published in India Today Website The video shows the three Sambar deer casually strolling in a society, while the people locked inside the house recorded the scene in amazement. The dogs, who are not used to wildlife roaming around freely on the roads can be heard barking at the deer.
Therefore, the viral video showing 3 Sambar deer walking on road is not recent and is not from Hyderabad. The video is from COVID lockdown period in 2020. The claim is False.
