Fact Check: Elephants terrorise Sakleshpur residents? No, video is from Assam
A video showing a herd of elephants emerging from a residential area is going viral on social media.
By - K Sherly Sharon
Claim:The video shows a herd of elephants crossing a road in a residential area in Sakleshpur, Karnataka.
Fact:The claim is false. The video is from Purabangla, Golaghat district of Assam.
Hyderabad: A video showing a herd of elephants crossing a road in what appears to be a residential area is going viral with the claim that it is from Sakleshpur of Karnataka.
The Kannada text on the video reads, “A herd of wild elephants has caused concern among the people in Sakaleshpur town.”
The video was shared on Instagram by Sampoorna News with the caption, “A herd of wild elephants in Sakaleshpur town has created fear among the public. #wildanimals #forest #elephant #sakaleshpura” (Translated from Kannada) (Archive)
A Facebook user also shared the video with the caption, “SAKLESHPUR TOWN, Hassan District, Karnataka. A huge herd of Elephants, including a few baby elephants, is moving from one forest/coffee estate area to another forest/coffee estate area. Even towns in the coffee plantation districts start facing the elephant menace or enjoy the company of elephants.” (Archive)
Posts making similar claims can be seen here, here and here. (Archive 1, Archive 2 and Archive 3)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video shows a herd of elephants crossing a road near Pura Bangla, Golaghat district of Assam.
Keyword searches led us to news reports about the presence of elephants in Sakleshpur. There are even reports of elephants attacking residents. They can be seen here and here.
However, we did not find any news reports or credible social media posts stating that the viral visuals show a herd of elephants in a residential area of Sakleshpur.
Source of the video
We found the same footage uploaded to Facebook by News18 Assam and NE on November 13 with the caption, “In Numaligarh, the human-elephant conflict is becoming more alarming day by day.”
The 4-minute 51-second-long video shows the viral footage from the 00:28 minute mark to the 01:17 minute mark.
An extended version of the viral video was uploaded to YouTube by Elephant Zoom on the same day. The title reads, ‘A Large Herd of Wild Elephants Crossing National Highway 39 Near Marangi Circle Office, Assam’.
The video shows a herd of elephants emerging from what appears to be a residential area, crossing the road. A crowd of bystanders stood by recording the incident on their phones.
Using this lead, we found the exact location on Google Maps. In the YouTube video, we can see an under-construction building and signboards showing ‘Anuron Dhaba’ and ‘Ayush Motors’. The same can be seen in the Street View images on Google Maps captured in January 2024.
In the images, the ‘Anuron Dhaba’ signboard states the address as Pura Bangla, Golaghat district of Assam.
It is clear that the viral video shows a herd of elephants crossing a road in Pura Bangla town, Golaghat district of Assam. Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the viral claim is false.
