A video montage with millions of views purports to show lions, gorillas and other animals running wild in Paris, France, amid unrest over the fatal shooting by police of a Black teenager. This is false; the clips in the compilation are all outdated and unrelated to the riots, with only some taking place in France.
“Like France what’s going on? can anyone explain this?” says the caption on a July 3, 2023 TikTok viewed more than 3.8 million times.
Screenshot from TikTok taken July 6, 2023
The 52-second video compilation spread as riots flare in and around the French capital city after a police officer killed a 17-year-old of Moroccan and Algerian descent, identified as Nahel M., during a traffic stop June 27, reviving longstanding complaints about police brutality and racism.
Stew Peters, a far-right radio host known for promoting conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccines and other topics, shared the video on Twitter, writing, “Did the African migrants release the Paris zoo animals so they’d feel more at home?” Other posts sharing individual clips from the compilation also rocketed across platforms.
Screenshot from Twitter taken July 5, 2023
But none of the clips are current — and many were filmed in countries other than France.
“These images, accompanied by misleading information, were filmed during incidents that took place several years ago, in France or abroad, with animals not coming from zoos,” Mathieu Descombes, a spokesman for the Parc Zoologique de Paris, told AFP in a July 6 email.
“The Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle ensures that no animal from the Paris Zoological Park or the Ménagerie, the zoo of the Jardin des Plantes is wandering in the streets of Paris or the municipalities of Ile-de-France,” Descombes said. “The safety of animals, visitors and Parisians is fully ensured by the teams and infrastructure.”
Lions
The mash-up opens with a scene of lions trodding down a street filled with stalled cars.
Using reverse image searches, AFP found the same footage posted in October 2020 on Facebook, YouTube and other platforms (archived here, here and here). Some captions say it shows Knowsley Safari Park, a tourist attraction near Prescot, England.
AFP also found the license plate on a car shown in the vehicle — styled in the format of British plates — was registered in the United Kingdom.
A second clip of a lion featured later in the post circulating online also traces to Knowsley Safari Park. The original recording was posted on TikTok (archived here) in September 2020.
@emma.cxmpbell The most intense 33 seconds Original version. FAQ- It’s Knowsley Safari Park, England and yes they are real @_toddyr
♬ original sound – E M M A ✨
Ian Duke, the park’s marketing manager, told AFP in an email: “The lions in the video at both 0.00 and 0.35 are filmed here at Knowsley Safari.”
A third clip of lions, which shows a pride of them walking a street at night, is also misrepresented in the online posts.
The original surveillance footage (archived here) shows lions in Gujarat, India in February 2023 and became the subject of news coverage (archived here).
A zebra and ponies
Another scene shows a zebra racing down a street, followed by two ponies and someone riding a motorized bike.
Reverse image searches reveal the video dates to April 2020 (archived here), when the animals escaped into the suburbs of Paris from a circus in Ormesson-sur-Marne, France, according to news reports. The French newspaper Le Parisien published the footage on YouTube (archived here).
A rhinoceros
The viral compilation then shows a rhinoceros puzzling onlookers in the middle of a street.
The original footage (archived here) was captured in November 2019 “on the fringes of Chitwan National Park in Nepal,” according to the post shared on Facebook.
AFP identified signs, including for the Hotel Peacock and the clothing store Coshelee, confirming the location in Nepal.
An elephant
After the rhinoceros, the video flips to shots of an elephant stomping across traffic.
The footage dates to June 2018 (archived here) and appears to show the pachyderm marching over a main road near a Shell gas station in Neuwied, Germany (archived here).
The elephant, named Kenia, had gotten loose from a nearby circus, said reports from Deutsche Welle and other media including AFP.
A goat
A scene of a goat trotting solo along a road at night also predates the recent riots.
The footage has been online since at least January 2023, when it was posted to TikTok (archived here). AFP could not determine where the TikTok video was filmed, although the men in the shot can be heard speaking in French.
@atmanatb_off Une chevre dans la rue
#tiktok#pourtoi#animaux♬ son original – ATMAN
A swan
The montage goes on to show a swan in the middle of a bridge.
AFP could not verify the original source of the clip, but the warmly clothed people suggest it is not current — and it does not show France.
AFP geolocated the footage to the Legion Bridge near the National Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic (archived here). A police van visible in the clip matches those used in Prague, and the tram seen zipping by is tram number 9357, which operates along that route.
A wolf
The next clip in the video shows a wolf lumbering along a sidewalk.
AFP found the same footage posted to TikTok in April 2023 (archived here), months before the riots. Text over the video says it was recorded in Marseille, France.
@srn.dcr Seul personnes du 13010 connaisse la legende du
#marseille#loup#choqué#pourtoi#fyp♬ son original – Srn
Three gorillas
The footage continues with a clip of three gorillas rounding the corner of a building.
AFP found the same moment — inverted — captured in a TikTok video from November 2022 (archived here).
The TikTok says one of the gorillas is Shabani, a silverback from the Higashiyama Zoo in Nagoya, Japan. AFP previously reported on the great ape’s celebrity status in Japan, where visitors fawn over his looks and muscles.
The same building and shrubbery are visible in other footage of Shabani available on YouTube (archived here).
A peacock
Another animal in the montage is a peacock, who is seen dashing down an alleyway — footage that appears to have originated on Snapchat and was posted to TikTok (archived here) as early as May 2023.
@rams.931 Qunad tu rencontres un paon dans le 93
#pourtoi#viral#93#devinelapersonne#paon♬ son original – Ramss.931
Using clues from the video, AFP geolocated it to two streets in Stains, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France (archived here and here).
Ostriches
Another scene showing a flock of ostriches racing down the street, meanwhile, dates to January 2022.
The Guardian and other media published the footage on YouTube (archived here). The reports said it showed about 80 of the flightless birds in Chongzuo, China after escaping from a farm.
A camel and a cow
Finally, the viral compilation shows shots of a camel and a cow on the street.
Both clips come from the same longer video, which AFP found circulating on TikTok as early as November 2022 (archived here).
By identifying signage for a Mercure Hotel and a pedestrian sign matching those used in France, AFP geolocated the footage to a bike path in Gennevilliers, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris (archived here).
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about the riots in Paris here.
