False Claim of Muslim Man in Kerala Feeding Meat to Elephant Revived
BOOM found that the man and his child in the video were feeding a coconut to the elephant.
Claim
The video of a man and his son in Kerala trying to feed an elephant is going viral online with a false and communal claim that the two are trying to feed meat to the animal. The video shows the two walking towards the elephant and trying to feed it. A few seconds later, the elephant charges at them as they try to get away. This caption with the video reads, 'This Kerala muslim fellow tried to give meat to the elephant. See what happened. Are these fellows born with sense or are they trying to convert even animals to islam?'
Fact
BOOM had previously fact-checked this claim in April 2022 when it went viral with a similar caption. We found a Malayalam news report which identified the man as Nabeel Kunhappu and also mentioned that the incident was old. Taking a cue from this, we were able to find Kunhappu's Facebook account where he had uploaded a video on April 8, 2022, clarifying the incident and stating that he had tried to feed a coconut to the elephant, not meat. BOOM reached out to Kunhappu who informed that the incident was from Kizhparambu Pazhaparambu in Malapuram district and took place on October 23, 2021. He refuted the communal claim and also sent a video shot before the viral video in which he is seen feeding the elephant first while asking his son to stay back. "So I fed the first coconut and the elephant seemed really calm, but when my son and I went to give the second coconut the elephant grabbed my son instead of the coconut. The elephant then threw my son to the ground and and grabbed my leg too. But luck was on our side and we both were safe after the incident," said Kunhappu in a video sent to BOOM. He also informed that six months after the incident, he moved to Saudi Arabia.
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