This photo of a dead bird has circulated in reports since 2020 about a forest fire in Iran
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on June 3, 2021 at 05:30
- 2 min read
- By AFP Pakistan
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
The photo was published in this Facebook post on May 28, 2021.
The post’s Urdu-language caption translates to English as: “Addressed to those who started the fire in Margalla Hills. It could escape, it had the capability to fly, but it did not run because in these eggs there was life. But we start a fire, because we have the matchbox, but no empathy.”
A number of fire incidents were reported in the Margalla Hills National Park in May 2021, Dawn newspaper reported here.
The same photo of the deceased bird was shared here, here and here on Facebook and here, here and here on Twitter alongside a similar claim.
Famous Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar also tweeted the photo along with the same caption as the misleading Facebook post.
Pakistani media outlets Urdupoint online news portal and Hum News television reported on Akhtar’s tweet here and here.
But the claim is false.
A reverse image search on Google found the same photo was posted by Iran’s Mehr news agency in this video report on July 25, 2020.
The report in Persian language says the bird was burned to death while trying to defend its eggs in the Iranian town of Lavasan.
The report’s headline reads: "The bird that burned in a fire to protect its eggs".
And the text underneath says: "The selfless bird refused to leave its nest in order to protect its 16 eggs and burned in a fire ravaging Lavasan's meadows".
Below is a comparison of screenshots of Mehr news report (L) and the misleading Facebook post (R):
The same photo was reported in a similar context by Iranian media outlets Newsin here and Borna here.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
