Did Putin let lions and tigers loose on streets to keep citizens at home ?
At times, it’s difficult to Fact Check a satire or a meme. A news channel looking screenshot is viral showing a Lion on a road surrounded by cars in a city with no human around.
“RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin has Dropped 800 tigers and Lions all over the Country to push people to stay Home.. Stay Safe Everyone!!“
Above is the text viral along with the image.
#Covid_19#StayAtHome
Vladimir Putin has given Russians two options.You stay at home for 2 weeks or you go to jail for 5years.
No middle ground.RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin has Dropped 800 tigers and Lions all over the Country to push people to stay Home.. Stay Safe Everyone!! pic.twitter.com/vI1NSpe5TR
— Nasir Chinioti ناصر چنیوٹی (@_Chinioty) March 22, 2020
time for street lions pic.twitter.com/O5VIynVmOf
— Dr. #EmergencyUBI ≥ 🧢 ☂️ !Beware! I NSFW/Swear (@Xcizior) March 22, 2020
Many websites are using this Clickbait for traffic
Truth
It may sound stupid but many have believed in it and have asked us for confirmation.
The viral photo of the lion is 4 years old, from Johannesburg, South Africa
Lion casually walks through city centre
They needn’t have worried though as Columbus was just ‘acting’ as part of a local production. There was one big problem though. The company involved never told the authorities. According to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), the filming had not been cleared and the film company took a risk by releasing the lion into the city, without previously getting approval to close several roads. – Source – Metro
1. The image didn’t have any link nor had it any News Channel Logo
2. This sounded outrageous but wasn’t in any credible media at all

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