Video of snow-covered deer is from Kazakhstan, not the US | Ap

CLAIM: A video of individuals serving to a deer whose head is roofed in snow was recorded in the USA throughout a large winter storm that killed not less than 34 folks in late December.

THE FACTS: The video of the snow-covered deer was recorded in Kazakhstan and has been on-line since not less than March 2021, when it was featured in a neighborhood information report. The video has circulated extensively on social media in current days, with many customers claiming it was filmed amid the current excessive climate in North America.

Within the footage, the deer might be seen standing in a highway, after which laying on the bottom whereas an individual removes snow packed across the animal’s face. Claims that it was taken not too long ago within the U.S. or Canada circulated in each English and Spanish. However the footage was recorded in Kazakhstan and has been on-line since not less than March 2021.

A media outlet in Kazakhstan revealed a information report that includes the video dated March 2, 2021. The report notes that it was filmed by one in every of two brothers who had been driving in Kazakhstan. A Fb consumer matching the title of one of many brothers recognized within the report, Abylaikhan Kuandyk, shared a model of the video revealed by Russian information outlet RT on March 8, 2021 and wrote within the submit, “Me and my Brother Nurzhan Makayev.”

The Fb consumer didn’t instantly reply to the AP’s request for remark. The deer proven within the video clip is probably going a roe deer, Timothy Van Deelen, a professor of forest and wildlife ecology on the College of Wisconsin-Madison, instructed the AP. The species is prevalent in Eurasia and isn’t native to North America. The absence of a white throat patch or vivid white hair on the stomach of the deer within the video signifies that it’s not a white-tailed deer, Van Deelen added. The deer within the video additionally seems to have white rump akin to that of a roe deer.

— Related Press writers Josh Kelety in Phoenix and León Ramírez in Mexico Metropolis contributed this report.