Fact check: Is the picture of a soldier carrying a donkey on his back from World War II?

On internet and social media in general, it is quite easy to find stories which are misleading and fake. se misleading photos, posts and memes go viral on social media and provide people with wrong information or at times, completely fabricated information. Recently, one such photo went viral on social media. 

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Claim - 

Recently, a photo of a soldier carrying a donkey on his back went viral on internet. It was claimed that photo is from World War II and soldier is carrying donkey in order to stop it from detonating a mine on minefield. photo was unusual and amusing at same time as donkey could be comfortably seen seated on soldier's back. photo claimed furrmore that if donkey was allowed to roam freely on minefield, it would have killed many people along with itself. Check out photo below - 

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Rating - False

photo of a soldier carrying a donkey was indeed true but it did t belong to time of World War II. picture is reportedly from 1958's Algerian War. Algerian War was a war against French forces based in Algeria during colonial era. photo actually showcases a soldier rescuing a donkey from starvation and carrying it back to base. donkey was reportedly nursed back to health and given name Bambi. This incident has been recorded in 1991 book History of Legion by Douglas Porch.

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Origin -

photo first started circulating on various social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. mess was reportedly spread across internet as an example of how one person can cause big effects, in context of ongoing coronavirus outbreak. photo also found its way to WhatsApp and spread across messenger in form of forwards. 

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Google Trends analysis - 

As photo of soldier carrying donkey went viral on internet, many people started searching for real story behind photo. This resulted in a surge of Google searches for same. Check it out below - 

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