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The real story behind the viral photo of cheetahs preying on an impala

'Its been horrible. I have no idea who started this,' photographer who captured image of cheetah hunting an impala rubbishes rumours. The social media posts suggested that the mother impala reportedly saved the lives of her fawns from a family of cheetahs by offering herself instead.

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If you felt heartbroken reading the 'sob-story' of how a mother impala offered herself to the cheetahs to save the lives of her fawns that you have received on social media, well then you have just been fooled.

DNA got in touch with photographer Alison Buttigieg and alerted her about the 'false story' going viral. She not only sent us the link of the real story that occurred in 2013 but also said.

"It is not true that I suffered from depression - it was just lies so that some people get more likes on their page. People steal photos all the time to get attention, but this was very rude and hurtful." 

In fact when asked about if she knew her image for which she won accolades and even awards had become viral she replied, "Yes I know.  Hundreds of people are sending me messages about my fake depression and why I didn't save the deer.  Its been horrible. I have no idea who started this,  I wish I knew," said Buttigieg who is Maltese wildlife photographer residing in Finland.

NOW THE REAL STORY 

Buttigieg further added,"I witnessed this cheetah kill in September 2013 in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. Narasha, the cheetah mom, was teaching her youngsters how to kill prey.  However they were a bit slow on the uptake and they instead were playing with the hapless impala prey instead of killing it. Narasha, the cheetah mom is the one that is grabbing the impala by the neck in all the photos. The youngsters practice some skills like pouncing and tripping which they get right, but they cannot seem to be able to get how to strangle the impala effectively.

What is out of the ordinary in this sequence of photos is how calm the impala is throughout its ordeal.  It is probably in shock and thus paralysed with fear. It is disturbing how it seems to be posing in some photos, especially in the 6th one as if determined to stay beautiful and proud until it’s very end. The defiance in its eyes are in stark contrast with its lack of interest in self-preservation. This allowed me to get unique pictures of a kill that are seemingly choreographed in their grace. I wanted the viewer to sympathise with the impala, and at the same time witness with me the disturbing nature of this unusual kill.

In the end, after what seemed like an interminable eternity (but it was just a few minutes), the cheetah mom put the impala out of it’s misery, and the cats got to enjoy a nice meal." 

The FAKE STORY 

Several posts on facebook and forwards on WhatsApp erroneously claim that this award-winning photo led the photographer into depression.

According to these false posts, the cheetahs chased a mother deer and her two fawns, the mother could've easily outrun cheetahs but instead she offered herself to cheetahs so that her little ones can manage to run to safety. The post also points out that 'she is seen looking at her babies running safely as she is about to get torn into pieces.' While this heart touching post does evoke sadness in readers it is completely untrue. 

Photographs from Allison Buttigieg's series 'Cheetah Family hunting Impala, Maasai Mara, Kenya'

Training Day


Deadly Game

Deadly Playmates

The Stranglehold

A Time To Kill

Death is Dinner

Picture credit : Alison Buttigieg.

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