Mother Deer Sacrifices Herself to Cheetahs to Save Her Child: Fact Check

Story:

Mother Deer Sacrifices Herself to Cheetahs to Save Her Child.

Other Versions

1. This photo won the award for best photo of the decade and led the photographer into depression.

The Cheetahs chased a mother deer and her 2 fawns (baby deers), the mother could’ve easily outrun Cheetahs but instead she offered herself to Cheetahs so that her kids can manage to run to safety.
In the picture she is seen looking at her babies running safely as she is about to get torn into pieces.

#Mother

2. The mother antelope offered herself to the cheetahs to let her kids escape.

3. The Impala had sacrificed herself for her fawns.

Image about Mother Deer Sacrifices Herself to Cheetahs to Save Her Child — Mother Deer Sacrifices Herself to Cheetahs to Save Her Child

Fact Check:

A ‘heart-touching’ story purports to show couple of photographs saying a Mother Deer Sacrifices Herself to Cheetahs to Save Her Babies. It says the mother deer offered herself to Cheetahs so that her two baby deers can run to safety. It also says the pictures show the mother deer looking beautifully at her babies running safely as she is about to get torn into pieces. Some versions added the photograph won best photo of the decade award, which led the Photographer into Depression. As explained below, the story saying the Mother Deer Sacrifices Herself to Cheetahs to Save Her Child is Not True.

Image of Cheetahs eventually killed the Impala — Cheetahs eventually killed the Impala

Firstly, the animal you see in the pictures is not a Deer, it is an Impala (medium-sized antelope). The pictures and the ‘heart-touching’ story are shared hundreds of thousands of times on various social media sites. It is also circulated through WhatsApp forwards. Once the story went viral, Alison Buttigieg, the actual Wildlife Photographer took to her Facebook account and explained the real scenario of the photographs. Annoyed at the messages saying she went into depression, Alison Buttigieg rubbished the fake story and explained the actual Cheetah kill incident on her website alisonbuttigieg.com.

The Actual Incident

Alison Buttigieg witnessed the incident back in September 2013 in Maasai Mara County Park of Kenya. She explained the Cheetah mother was actually teaching her youngsters how to kill prey. Before killing it, the Cheetahs were playing with the hapless Impala for few minutes. To a certain surprise, the Impala was calm throughout its ordeal. Note, the mother Cheetah was grabbing the neck of the Impala all the time. So, the victim was probably in shock and paralyzed with fear. Yes, the cheetahs eventually killed and ate the Impala. You can see below the series of photographs from the incident. Nonetheless, till the end, the Impala looked beautiful in the photos.

So, the picture stories saying mother Deer sacrifices herself to Cheetahs for the sake of her babies’ life are hoaxes. Contrary to the actual truth, some falsely suggested the animals in the pictures were raised together and are simply playing.