Lion Takes Revenge On Trophy Hunter, Video: Fact Check

Story: 

Lion Takes Revenge On Trophy Hunter! [LEAKED VIDEO].

Other Versions

1. Lion takes revenge on gun-toting trophy hunters.

2. Instant Karma Instant Justice

3. Karma’s a bitch…

Fact Check:

An interesting video viral online claims to show two armed Trophy Hunters with guns posing with a Lion they killed. Then another lion comes from back and attacks them in revenge.  Many viewers wondered whether or not the video is real. As explained here, the video of lion appearing to attack gun-wielding trophy hunters is a hoax.

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Lion Takes Revenge on Trophy Hunter?

The video claims to show a woman holding a gun squatting next to the dead lion as a man programs a camera to take a photo before joining her. As the man returns to the camera and the woman contemplates her ‘trophy’, another lion suddenly appears from the background. The woman freaks out in terror; running for her life. The ‘amazing’ video appeared on YouTube on 7th Jun 2016 from user Jayden Tanner with a caption ‘#stoptrophyhunting’ and below descriptive story.  It raises concerns about trophy hunters killing thousands of exotic wild animals in Africa every year.

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The interesting footage and the call to stop trophy hunting became popular on social media. On the other hand, there were also questions about its authenticity.

Flaws & Actual Facts

While some viewers said the footage of lion chasing the trophy hunters was not real, some others responded saying they could see the lion approaching from the background on the right corner (see the pictures above). However, it’s worth noting the lion does not make any roaring kind of sounds in the footage. Moreover, it does not care for the (presence of) dead lion. The video capture also shuts abruptly, and it is unclear what happened to the two people.

Jayden Tanner, the uploader of the video does not have any YouTube activity or about information, as of this writing. Our search reveals the dead lion in the video belongs to another, old incident from 2013. It was in fact hunted in Kalahari Desert, South Africa (see pictures below). Contradicting this fact, the YouTube user said that he managed to get his hands on the video when he was in South Africa a couple of months earlier in 2016, when a hunter showed him the footage he thought was hilarious.

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All of it suggest the video claiming to show a Lion taking revenge on gun-toting trophy hunters is a hoax. The picture of dead lion is added to a staged and perhaps also edited scene in the video. However, the video uploader Jayden Tanner mentions every year trophy hunters kill thousands of exotic wild animals in Africa. The video also highlights a distressing situation the world needs to see. So, as the hashtag #stoptrophyhunting suggests, the video was perhaps meant to raise awareness around the issue.

Hoax or Fact:

Hoax.