Fact Check: There’s a lion’s share of fiction in this viral video

Is a pride of lions roaming the streets of Delhi? Many social media users certainly believe so. A video of a group of female lions and their cubs strolling on the roadside, shot from inside a car, is going viral on social media with the claim that they were spotted at Dhaula Kuan near Delhi Cantonment.

Arjun Deodia 

Balkrishna 

New Delhi

May 9, 2020

Is a pride of lions roaming the streets of Delhi? Many social media users certainly believe so. A video of a group of female lions and their cubs strolling on the roadside, shot from inside a car, is going viral on social media with the claim that they were spotted at Dhaula Kuan near Delhi Cantonment.

Multiple videos and images of nilgai, deer, jackals, foxes and other wild animals in public places have been doing the rounds on social media in the lockdown period. Netizens say with humans stuck indoors, nature is “healing itself”. However, this video of a pack of lions in the Capital seemed too sensational to be true.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim along with the video is misleading. The video is not from Delhi but Rajula in Gujarat’s Amreli district.

The video, along with the misleading claim, is being shared widely on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The archived version of the post can be seen here .

AFWA investigation

Using keywords such as “lions on streets in India”, we came across several videos on Google wherein lions could be seen walking on the roads. Most of these videos were from Gujarat, more specifically, the area around Gir national park. Asiatic lions, as seen in the viral video, are only found in Gir in the entire world. In fact, it is not uncommon to sight lions in areas nearby Gir national park.

Searching the Internet, we came across a YouTube video of a pride of lions, wherein the location seemed similar to the viral video. The YouTube channel called “GirIndiaFilms HD” has a video of a pride of lions strolling on the street. The title of this video, dated January 11, 2016, says it is from Pipavav shipyard road near Gir forest.
https://www.indiatoday.in/fact-check/story/fact-check-there-s-a-lion-share-of-fiction-in-this-viral-video-1676278-2020-05-09