Fact Check: Emotional story posted along with this picture of cheetahs attacking impala is fake

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A picture is going viral on social media, in which two cheetahs can be seen hunting an impala. The impala seen in the picture is very still, which is surprising given the situation. It is being claimed with the post that this picture brought the photographer into depression, as this impala had surrendered to the cheetahs to save its calves. Vishvas News found in its investigation that this story is fabricated. The photographer who took the picture has also confirmed that this story is fake.

What’s in the viral post?

Facebook user Sada e Jawanan shared the post, in which the description read: “This photo is one of the best photos in the last ten years because it brought its owner ((photographer)) into depression: The story behind this picture: These two cheetahs attacked the deer at a time when she was playing with her little ones.. The deer had a chance to escape, and the distance and survival was in favor of it, but decided to surrender itself to the Cheetahs like this. Why?? To give her children a chance to escape… Because if she escapes first, there won’t be time for her children to escape. The picture is the last minute of the mother with her throat in the mouth of the cheetahs, steadily looking to make sure that her little ones escaped peacefully before being predated. A mother is the only person in the world who can sacrifice her life for you for free. So remember her even with a prayer. May Allah protect all mothers. AMEEN ALLAHUMMA AMEEN “

The archived version of the post can be viewed here.

Investigation

Beginning the investigation, Vishvas News first searched the viral image with the help of Google reverse image search. We found this photo uploaded on the timeline of a Facebook user named Alison Buttigieg on February 13, 2017. Uploading this picture, Alison Buttigieg wrote, “My Stranglehold photo went viral with a completely ridiculous fake story accompanying it, and the implications I fell into depression after I took it (seriously who comes up with this crap?!?) – not to mention the gross copyright violations. Sensationalism at its best – complete fiction so that people get more likes on their page. The photo with the fake story has been shared hundreds of thousands of times on various social media. I am getting inundated by hundreds and hundreds of messages asking me whether I am the “depressed photographer”. I have been tagged in LinkedIn with the fake story – that’s going to do wonders for my career. What a vile world we live in, full of stupid gullible people spreading #fakenews like crazy. To set the record straight the real story can be found here: http://www.alisonbuttigieg.com/cheetahkill/ – with Alison Buttigieg Wildlife Photography”

We found details about this picture on Alison Buttigieg’s website. Here’s the description accompanying the picture, “I witnessed this Cheetah kill in September 2013 in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. Narasha, the cheetah mom, was teaching her youngsters how to kill prey. However they were a bit slow on the uptake and they were playing with the hapless Impala prey instead of killing it. Narasha, the cheetah mom is the one that is grabbing the impala by the neck in all the photos. The youngsters practice some skills like pouncing and tripping which they get right, but they cannot seem to be able to get how to strangle the impala effectively. What is out of the ordinary in this sequence of photos is how calm the impala is throughout its ordeal. It is probably in shock and thus paralysed with fear. It is disturbing how it seems to be posing in some photos, especially in the 6th one as if determined to stay beautiful and proud until its very end. The defiance in its eyes are in stark contrast with its lack of interest in self-preservation. This allowed me to get unique pictures of a kill that are seemingly choreographed in their grace. I wanted the viewer to sympathize with the impala, and at the same time witness with me the disturbing nature of this unusual kill. In the end, after what seemed like an interminable eternity (but it was just a few minutes), the cheetah mom put the impala out of its misery, and the cats got to enjoy a nice meal.” Read the full story here..

For confirmation, we reached out to Alison Buttigieg via Instagram Messenger to inquire about the viral claim being made with the image. She said, “This claim is absolutely absurd. I have refuted it many times earlier as well.”

This post was shared on Facebook by a user named Betzaida Alsindawi. On scanning the profile of this user, we found that the user has hidden his personal information.