No, a woman in South Africa did not and could not give birth to puppies

This article is more than one year old.
Published on January 24, 2019 at 23:14
2 min read
By Tendai DUBE

An online article shared more than 3,000 times on Facebook from the official website of a South African DJ claims a woman in the Western Cape province of South Africa gave birth to puppies after intercourse with the family dog. The story mostly regurgitates details from a story on another site ‘intended for entertainment purposes only’, but it is presented without a disclaimer. It is not possible for a woman to give birth to a dog.

This link from April 4, 2017 has been shared on Facebook 3,227 times and details a story about how a German tourist surprised doctors at a Western Cape hospital by giving birth to three puppies.

a screenshot of the Facebook search on January, 23 2019

The article appears on the official website of a DJ based in South Africa, which links to a Twitter account with more than 70,000 followers and Facebook account with over 40,000 followers.

a screenshot of the article on DJ Jazzy D's website from April 4, 2017

It is not clear what animal is in the photo. A Google reverse search of the image shows articles from Malaysia in April 2016 - about a goat born with human-like features. The Malaysian Veterinary Department did not immediately respond to confirm the pictured animal was tested by them.

A google search of the headline leads to an article from February 25, 2016 that reads: “Woman Gives Birth To Puppies After Admitting To Sex With Family Dog”, supposedly in Utah, United States.

It was posted on Empire News a site that carries a disclaimer for the content it posts: “Empire News is intended for entertainment purposes only.”

The same text as on the DJ's website is picked up and posted with a video on YouTube with more than 29,000 views. That shows images of silicone dolls in the form of characters from James Cameron's Avatar movie and resembling those found on this website.

It is impossible for a woman to give birth to a dog.

“All animals carry DNA which is the genetic instructions which inform development, growth and functioning of the body. The DNA code is unique to every species,” explained Tabitha Haw, lecturer and genetic counsellor at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“As both the human mother and father have human DNA code, they will have a human baby. They are not able to produce a different species of animal such as dog or goat because they do not carry the DNA code for dog or goat in their egg/sperm.”

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