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 the rumour about?

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

Image courtesy: Twitter (the actual tweet has been removed now)

Who started the rumour?

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

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Google Trends about the deer on Ooty road rumour

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

Image courtesy: Gooogle Trends

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

• According to the fact check by Republic World, the deer sitting on Ooty road rumour is incorrect. 
• The photo is real but the claim is misleading. 
• After performing a reverse image search, it was found that the picture of the deer was originally from a Twitter user named Mojizuri posted on July 22, 2014. However, the tweet has been deleted/unavailable now. 
• The same image was also seen on SoraNews24 and Japan Today website that was published in 2014. 
• The image is from around Nara Park in Japan. Here is the actual image which has a signpost written in Japanese. This also proves that the image is not from India. 

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

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