Old photos of stranded dogs falsely linked to north Myanmar floods in 2024

Published on July 11, 2024 at 10:11
4 min read
By AFP Thailand

Old pictures of dogs trapped in floodwaters have been shared thousands of times in posts that falsely depicted them as images from northern Myanmar's heavily flooded Myitkyina city in July 2024. The pictures previously appeared in posts about flooding in Thailand in October 2022 and a hurricane slamming the southern United States in August 2017.

"Please help save and feed the stray dogs from the flooded streets of Myitkyina. Please do not leave them," read a Burmese-language Facebook post that shared the pictures on July 2, 2024.

The post has been shared over 7,000 times as flooding in northern Myanmar -- including Kachin state's capital city Myitkyina -- trapped thousands of people in their homes.

Screenshot of the false post, captured on July 4, 2024

The pictures were also shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here and here.

Reverse image searches on Google, however, found they are unrelated to the recent flooding in Myanmar.

Thailand floods

The pictures that show several dogs wading in floodwaters and one being carried by a person were earlier published on Facebook on October 15, 2022 by the Soi Dog Foundation, an animal rescue group in Thailand (archived link).

"The worst flooding we have seen in years is happening right now. For thousands of dogs and cats, the situation is desperate," read part of the post's caption which asked social media users for donations.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the pictures from the false posts (left) and their corresponding photos from the Soi Dog Foundation's Facebook post (right):

Screenshot comparison of the photos from the false post (left) and the photos posted by the Soi Dog Foundation (right)

The pictures were taken in Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani province, a Soi Dog Foundation staff told AFP in June 2023 when one of the photos was falsely shared online as flooding in Ukraine.

Another picture showing a dog swimming toward a rescue boat was also taken by the foundation.

It was published on October 26, 2022 by the local media Phuket News (archived link).

"A dog swims for food in Sukothai," read the caption to the picture which was credited to the Soi Dog Foundation.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the circulating picture (left) and the photo from Phuket News (right):

Screenshot comparison of the photo from the false post (left) and the one from the Phuket News article (right)

A spokesperson for the foundation told AFP the photo was taken during floods in Sukhothai province in 2022.

US hurricane

Finally, the picture that shows a dog tied to a pole was published by the British tabloid Daily Mail on August 27, 2017 (archived link).

Its caption said the dog was abandoned on a property in the US state of Texas as floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey was rising.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the circulating picture (left) and the photo published by Daily Mail (right):

Screenshot comparison of the photo from the false post (left) and Daily Mail's photo (right)

In a subsequent report, Daily Mail said the picture was taken by photographer Ruaridh Connellan who untied the dog and brought the animal to safer ground (archived link).

The report included more pictures showing the dog and Connellan during the flooding and after.

Hurricane Harvey killed at least 68 people in Texas, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is one of the costliest tropical cyclones to impact the country, and was estimated to have caused over $158 billion in damage (archived links here and here).

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