Old picture of burnt cat falsely linked to Los Angeles fires

Published on January 31, 2025 at 09:21
3 min read
By AFP Thailand

Deadly wildfires around Los Angeles in January reduced thousands of acres to ash but a picture of a burnt cat that spread online is unrelated to the recent inferno. It dates to a wildfire that scorched parts of northern California in November 2018.

"Amidst the intense flames, although its eyes and fur burned by the heat of the flames, the cat survived," read part of a Burmese-language Facebook post on January 28, 2025.

"Los Angeles fires continue to rage. A cat escaped from flames. Dead animals found in LA park. It's sad to see them like this," the post added.

It included two similar pictures of a cat with visible burn injuries sitting on the ground alongside images of a hillside in flames.

Screenshot of the false post, captured on January 31, 2025

Similar claims also surfaced in other Burmese-language Facebook posts as massive fires broke out across the United States' second largest city, killing 29 people and destroying more than 10,000 homes (archived link).

But a reverse image search on Google, followed by keyword searches, found the photo of the burnt cat earlier published on the Getty Images agency website on November 11, 2018 (archived link).

"PARADISE, CA - NOVEMBER 11: A burned cat waits for animal control to arrive after they were called by responders who discovered it near Bille Road in Paradise, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018. Twenty-three people have died so far in the destructive Camp Fire," its caption read.

Screenshot comparison of the photo in the false posts (left) with the picture from Getty Images

AFP reached out to the photographer Jane Tyska who was credited with taking the picture (archived link).

"That is my picture that I shot at the campfire in Paradise, California," she said on January 27. "It is definitely not from the recent Los Angeles fires."

The so-called Camp Fire spread quickly and left the northern California town of Paradise choking on floating ash and thick smoke, AFP reported at the time (archived link).

A further reverse image search found one of the wildfire pictures shared alongside the burnt cat was also misrepresented.

It was a cropped version of a picture published on The Associated Press website on August 18, 2021 (archived link).

"In this Aug. 17, 2021, file photo, seen in a long exposure photograph, embers light up hillsides as the Dixie Fire burns near Milford in Lassen County," part of its caption read.

Screenshot comparison of the second photo in the false posts (Left) and the original photo published by AP (Right)

The monstrous Dixie Fire, also in northern California, was considered at the time one of the worst in the history of the state (archived link).

The last picture in the posts was genuinely taken during the Los Angeles wildfires. It was published in a report from the AP on January 13, 2025 (archived link).

AFP has debunked other misrepresented images linked to the recent wildfires.

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