Story:
Lion roaming freely on a Mumbai street
Other Versions
Lion spotted crossing road at Mumbai’s Aarey Colony
Fact Check:
A video in wide circulation online purports to show a Lion Spotted Roaming Freely on a Mumbai Street in the early morning hours. Allegedly, the video shows a Majestic Lion crossing a road casually at Mumbai’s Aarey colony and is a cause of concern. The video is real, but the mentioned whereabouts are not true.
Not Lion Roaming Freely in Mumbai
The short video in question shows a man on bike stopping and recording a majestic Lion crossing a road and a vehicle passes by. As a small group of ongoing people stop and watch the royal move of the King of the Jungle, some record it on their mobile phone cameras. The video is in fact real. The Lion crosses the road and goes inside the trees on the other side. On 18th July 2019, Hindi actor Karan Patel also shared the viral video on his Twitter page mentioning the incident allegedly took place in Mumbai’s Aarey colony. He said it is a sight to be worried of, and added a valid point – when we encroach their (animals’) space they are bound to invade ours. However, the incident did not take place in Aarey colony of Mumbai.
The Majestic Lion is in fact crossing a road of Gir National Park in Gujarat. In the video, you can also see the Monument Lion Idol of Gir National Park placed alongside the road (see the above picture). Reportedly, the incident took place on Bilkha Road in Junagadh district of Gujarat. Animal sightings like this are quite common in such places and like the video shows; both the Lion and the people around are comfortable with it.
Another Video of Tiger Chasing a Biker
Earlier, on 29th June 2019, a frightening video went viral online showing a Tiger chasing two people riding a bike on the road. The incident took place at Vattapadi on the Sultan Bathery-Pulpally road of the South Wayanad forest division, Kerala. The video captured by the pillion rider on bike shows the tiger briefly chasing the bike riders before crossing the road and then disappearing into the forest.
Citing the incident, officials suggested people to take care while crossing forest areas, respect wildlife and follow the rules of forest authorities. On the other hand, sharing the video, Writer and Conservationist Prerna Singh Bindra said the video does not show a Tiger attack. She says it’s a mock charge on a highway that cuts through a wildlife sanctuary. She also suggests people to give animals their space in order to avoid conflict. Chethalath forest range officer, V Ratheesan said that the tiger was in fact trying to cross the road and could have ran faster in panic after hearing the sound of the bike.
Hoax or Fact:
Mixture of Hoax and Facts.
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