Fact Check: Herd of deer on Ooty road after the Coronavirus lockdown in India?

Claim: Deer on Ooty road after coronavirus lockdown in India 

Rating: Misleading

What is rumour about?

A herd of deer started taking over  Ooty-Coimbatore road amidst Coronavirus lockdown.  im states that wildlife is reclaiming public s during time when human race is under a nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Im courtesy: Twitter ( actual tweet has been removed w)

Who started rumour?

• Many social media users spread this news saying that as humans are locked down, animals are prancing freely all over streets. 
• Many celebrities and or verified accounts on Twitter were also seen sharing  im stating it to be from Ooty-Coimbatore Highway road. 

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Google Trends about deer on Ooty road rumour

Here is number of searches people did on Google after im became viral all over social media. On March 28, 2020, deer on Ooty road rumour saw a spike. 

Im courtesy: Gooogle Trends

Republic World did a fact check on deer sitting on Ooty road viral im

• According to fact check by Republic World, deer sitting on Ooty road rumour is incorrect. 
• photo is real but claim is misleading. 
• After performing a reverse im search, it was found that picture of deer was originally from a Twitter user named Mojizuri posted on July 22, 2014. However, tweet has been deleted/unavailable w. 
• same im was also seen on SoraNews24 and Japan Today website that was published in 2014. 
• im is from around Nara Park in Japan. Here is  actual im which has a signpost written in Japanese. This also proves that im is t from India. 

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• im is said to be of a herd of Sika deer from Japan’s Nara Park. im was shared by a number of verified handles which led people into believing that im is actually from Ooty-Coimbatore highway road.
• Sika deer present in Japan’s Nara park are usually kwn to stroll around nearby gift shops, restaurants and across street once in a while. 
• Recently, Nara deer were actually seen strolling nearby streets a few days ago as well. Some say that deer come and sit in middle of sidewalk as sidewalk is cooler, while ors believe that y prance on streets to find tourists who will provide m with free treats. 

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