Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
A shocking video that shows an elephant reacting in rage, coiling its trunk around a toddler and attempting to fling the child after he offers the animal something to eat, is going viral on social media. Users who posted the video claimed that the animal was retaliating after the “Muslim fellow tried to give meat to Elephant.” Newschecker has found the claim to be untrue.
In a twenty-six-second-long video, a small child, accompanied by a grown man, can be seen approaching the elephant and offering it something to eat. The animal, however, grasps the boy with its trunk, and tries to drag him away, before the man pulls the child away from the elephant and then rushing to safety.
The video has been shared by several social media users on both Twitter and Facebook recently.
Fact Check/Verification
To verify the veracity of the claim that an elephant attacked father-son duo over attempt to feed meat, Newschecker conducted Google reverse image search by using keyframes of the viral video and found multiple reports about the incident. One such report by Manorama, dated April 7, 2022, states that the duo seen in the video is one Nabeel and his son. The report further adds that Nabeel offered a coconut to the elephant, following which his son also insisted on offering food to the animal. But, when Nabeel took his son to feed the elephant, it grabbed hold of the child. Report added that the incident took place five months back, but was recently posted on social media. The elephant was identified as a cow elephant, Kolakkadan Mini.
Newschecker reached out to the owner of the elephant, Kolakkadan Nasar who dismissed the claim that Nabeel tried to feed meat or beef to the animal. Speaking to Newschecker, Nasar said, “Nabeel teased the elephant by playing with the coconut. He would offer the fruit, but as soon as the elephant reached out, Nabeel would take it back. This happened several times, and when his son offered the coconut, the annoyed animal attacked him.”
We also spoke to a Malappuram based news reporter Yasin, who covered the news for Malayalam Samayam, about the incident. Yasin told us that the incident happened in Keezhuparamba Gram Panchayat in Malappuram district. He added that according to local belief scurvy bumps could be cured if one fed coconuts to elephants. Yasin informed that Nabeel’s family had come to feed coconut to the elephant as his mother-in-law had such a cyst. He added that they came when there was no one around and teased the elephant, following which it attacked them. Yasin also confirmed that the claim about Nabeel offering meat to the elephant is false.
Malayalam Samayam also published a video report on the same.
We also found a video posted by Nabeel Kunhappu on Facebook, in which he can be heard speaking about the incident in Malayalam, where he says that he took his son to an elephant where he fed coconuts to the animal after which his son demanded to do the same. Nabeel said that while his son sustained minor injuries, they were not grave enough to be treated at a hospital.
Conclusion
The viral claim that an elephant attacked a Muslim man after he tried to feed it meat, is untrue. The man had in fact offered a coconut to the elephant.
Result: Misleading Content/Partly False
Sources
Direct Contact With Kolakkadan Nasar
Direct Contact With Malayalam Samayam Reporter Yasin
Facebook Account Of Nabeel Kunhappu
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
