A post accompanying a photo (here & here) showing a cow appearing to be dead and tied to the bonnet of a jeep is being widely shared across social media platforms with the claim it shows the slaughtering of a cow openly by Congress leaders in Kerala. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo showing the slaughtering of a cow openly by Congress leaders in Kerala.
Fact: This photo depicts a protest held against wild animal attacks in Pulpally, Wayanad, Kerala, on 17 February 2024. According to reports, following the death of 52-year-old forest department observer VP Paul in an elephant attack near the Kuruvadweep tourist center on 16 February 2024, people in Pulpally, Wayanad district, protested, demanding a permanent solution to the ongoing human-wildlife conflict in the area. During this protest, demonstrators damaged a Forest Department vehicle and tied a cow to its bonnet, which had been killed in a suspected tiger attack earlier. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a reverse image search that led us to a news report published by the ‘Free Press Journal’ on 17 February 2024, featuring a similar photo. According to this report, a Wayanad district-wide hartal was called by the ruling LDF, opposition UDF, and BJP to seek permanent solutions to the man-animal conflicts in the region, which turned violent in Pulpally on 17 February 2024. During this protest, protesters damaged a Forest Department vehicle and tied a cow to the vehicle, which had been killed in a suspected tiger attack earlier in the day.
Upon further search, we found several news reports (here, here, & here) published in February 2024 regarding this protest in Kerala’s Wayanad. According to these reports, hundreds of people, regardless of political affiliation, took to the streets in Pulpally on 17 February 2024 to protest against the death of 52-year-old forest department observer VP Paul in an elephant attack near the Kuruvadweep tourist center on 16 February 2024. They demanded a permanent solution to the ongoing human-wildlife conflict in the district. Pulpally town witnessed scenes of an enraged mob pelting stones at the police. Tension further escalated when the crowd surrounded a forest department vehicle. Some individuals went on to puncture the vehicle’s tyres while a few others placed the remains of a cow on the bonnet of a vehicle, which was killed by a tiger the previous day, to emphasize the gravity of the situation. It is said that they brought the remains of a cow killed by a tiger in Mudanakolli on 16 February 2024.
The Malayalam news organization ‘Asianet News’ live-streamed (here & here) this protest on their Facebook page on 17 February 2024. Asianet News uploaded a video report regarding this incident on YouTube, which can be seen here.
To sum up, a photo showing a protest against wild animal attacks in Kerala’s Wayanad is being shared with a false narrative.
