Fact Check: Viral showing elephants running to safety makes a false claim, it is not related to Wayanad landslides

Union Minister Suresh Gopi stated on 4th August 2024, the Centre will examine the legality of the demand from various quarters to classify the landslides in this northern Kerala district, which killed hundreds, as a national disaster. Gopi, who is the Union Minister of State for Tourism, Petroleum, and Natural Gas, said the Central government will "examine the legal aspects" after evaluating the landslides that devastated hundreds of homes in the Mundakkai and Chooralmala areas of the district. "The impact has to be studied," he said.

Elephants in Kerala play a major role in maintaining their ecosystem. However, many humans have been found dead due to close encounters with elephants. Amidst this hazardous situation, a positive story emerged: an elephant came to the rescue of a A wayanad based woman Sujatha Aninachira and her family.

Sujatha Aninachira and her family were among the few lucky survivors of a devastating landslide that left hundreds dead and missing. When the disaster struck, they escaped by climbing a hillock, only to encounter a wild tusker and two female elephants. Sujatha recounted how her neighboring two-story house collapsed, destroying her own home. She and her family—her son Gireesh, daughter-in-law Sujitha, and granddaughter Mridula—were buried under the rubble. Sujatha managed to pull Mridula out, cover her with a cloth, and swim through the floodwaters to safety.

Eventually, the other members of her family also rescued themselves and reached the shore near a hilltop, where they found themselves close to the elephants. Terrified, Sujatha pleaded with the animals to spare their lives. Miraculously, the elephants remained calm and stood by silently until morning when rescuers arrived. Sujatha recalled seeing tears in the tusker's eyes as it stayed with them until they were saved. 

A 26-second video went viral on social media in the aftermath. In the video, a group of elephants is seen emerging from a deep forest during heavy rain and then moving downhill.

Social media users share the video with the caption “Elephants running to safety 1 hour before the landslide in Wayanad, Kerala. Animals have subtle vision”.

Fact Check: We found the claim is false. This is an old video with no connection to the recent Wayanad landslide.

In the comment section of the viral video post, a user shared a screenshot and mentioned, "That video is from January."

In the screen shot we found a thumbnail of the viral video which was shared by a instagram user named wayanadn.

When we searched for wayanadn on Instagram, we found the user had posted the same video on January 12, 2024.

We found this video similar to the viral one.

Further investigation revealed that the same video was uploaded on April 3, 2024, by the YouTube channel "Travel with AJ."

This confirms that the viral video of the group of elephants was already on the internet before the landslide in Wayanad.

We also found several comments on a Red FM Bengaluru post.

An Instagram user fayis_t. Wrote “Fake. Landslide happened at 1: 30 am. One hour before is 12: 30 am. There is so much sunlight at 12: 30. Woww .

wheres few other user also posted in comment section,

“This video is from Kerala only but it's too old.. Landslides happened at midnight and how come this video was taken in daylight”.

“This might be an old video but this is how animals are being protected by God they will sense the disaster”.

“Bakwas! Landslide happened at 2:30 am in the dark of the night. This video is not related to landslide”

Hence, the claim is false. The viral video is old and not related to the recent landslide in Wayanad.