All section Close
Image Credit: Twitter/Economic Times
Does This Image Show Babiya The Famous Crocodile Of Kerela's Temple? No, Image is Viral With False Context!
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Kerala, 12 Oct 2022 11:33 AM GMT
Editor : Bharat Nayak |
As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
We found that the image shows Gilberto “Chito” Shedden, a fisherman in Costa Rica, alongwith a crocodile named ‘Pocho’. The crocodile was captured alongwith Shedden in several documentaries.
An image showing a man resting his head lightly on a crocodile's jaw is going viral across social media. The image is being circulated, claiming that it shows Babiya, a famous crocodile in Kerala.
Babiya, a crocodile that resided in the lake on the premises of Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Temple in the Kasaragod district of Kerala, was found dead on October 9, 2022. The crocodile was believed to be a 75-year-old who was offered food by devotees at the temple, earning it the nickname the 'vegetarian crocodile' as per the Onmanorama article.
Claim:
The image shows a man resting his head on a crocodile's jaw. The caption for the image stated, "Anantapura Lake Temple's vegetarian crocodile 'Babiya' passes away in Kerala's Kasaragod."
Republic, Economic Times, NDTV, ETV Bharat Kannada, Zee News Malayalam, News18, Asianewsnet, and ABP live shared this image in their report.
The image is also viral across Twitter.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The image shows Gilberto "Chito" Shedden, a fisherman in Costa Rica, alongwith a crocodile named 'Pocho'.
We conducted a reverse image search on the viral image and came across this video uploaded on YouTube. The video titled, 'Crocodile Sees Its Adoptive Dad After Years…' was published on November 26, 2021.
In the video, at the 0.31 mark, a scene similar to the viral image can be seen. In the video, the crocodile is identified as Pocho, and the man is identified as Chito Shedden.
We then conducted a keyword search for 'Pocho' and 'Chito Shedden.' We came across this article by Esquire. The article documented the story of how the crocodile Pocho became amicable and accustomed to humans.
As per the Esquire article, Gilberto "Chito" Shedden, a fisherman from Costa Rica, rescued a dying crocodile lying on the banks of the Reventazón-Parismina River in Siquirres. After nursing the crocodile to health, Shedden attempted to return the crocodile to its natural habitat. However, the crocodile reportedly returned to him, and Shedden began training the reptile.
In the article, a documentary featuring the two, 'The Man Who Swims With Crocodiles' is also attached. In the video, at the 20.53 mark in the video, the same scene as the viral image can be observed.
We conducted another keyword search with the keywords 'Pocho' and 'Chito'. We came across the IMDB page of the documentary, 'Touching The Dragon'. The documentary description reads, 'Pocho was a Costa Rican crocodile who was saved by a local fisherman and then stayed with him twenty years.'
We came across another documentary, Dragon's Feast, listed on IMDB which also covers the story of Pocho and Chito. We also learnt that Pocho died in 2011, as per this BBC report.
Conclusion:
We found that the image shows Gilberto "Chito" Shedden, a fisherman in Costa Rica, alongwith a crocodile named 'Pocho'. The crocodile was captured alongwith Shedden in several images and documentaries. Pocho the crocodile died in 2011. Thus, we can ascertain that media outlets shared an image with a false context.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Must Reads
We are an independent and public-spirited digital media platform for Indian millennials. We report news and issues that matter as well as give you the opportunity to take action.
