By Sourit Sanyal
A shocking video of a dog mauling a two-year-old boy in Pattaya, Thailand is being shared with false claims that the incident took place in Pune, Maharashtra.
The five minute long video shows a two-year-old child, sustaining severe injuries after a gruesome attack by an untethered pitbull. The video shows the toddler out for a walk with a woman and another young child, following which a pitbull charges toward the toddler from a gate that was left open by the dog's owner. The dog continues to attack the child despite the woman and another woman, trying to pull it away from the child.
BOOM has not included the video due to its disturbing nature.
The video is being shared with a claim text that says, "The above incidence happened in one of the housing society, yesterday morning,at HADAPSAR, PUNE." (sic)
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is not from India but from Pattaya in Thailand and the child survived the incident but sustained severe injuries on his cheeks and head.
We first noticed the video when it was shared by a Twitter user without any claim that it was from India. The tweet has since been removed by Twitter for violating its rule. Replies to tweet had an article link which stated the incident took place in Thailand.
We then ran a search query for 'dog attacks child in Thailand' on Google and found several news stories published by Thai news outlets which said the incident happened in Bang Lamung district of Chonburi Province in South Pattaya, Thailand.
Pattaya News, a local media outlet spoke to two residents who witnessed the incident and helped rescue the child. The news article reported, "The witnesses identified as Father Somkiat, 67, and Jet, 39, (said) the incident was sparked when the nanny of the two foreign boys, 4 and 2, walked the boys past an open gate of a village home. CCTV show the older four-year-old boy pausing, reportedly as a large black dog began barking at the nanny and the two boys from inside the premises of the home. The gate to the home had reportedly been left open by accident after the trash had been taken out."
The story which carried screenshots from the same viral video, further reported, "...it took nearly four minutes for the nanny, a maid, and several witnesses who stopped to help, including Father Somkiat and Jet, to detach the dog from his vicious and unsolicited attack on the boy."
Another news outlet, The Bangkok Post reported, that the child suffered a broken jaw, cheek wounds and head injuries, requiring 200 stitches overall and that his condition was now stable.
The report further added that the parents of the child had filed a complaint with the local police in Pattaya against the dog's owners for not properly leashing and securing their pet.
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We also found detailed news stories reported in Thai media outlets which said the incident happened on June 20, 2022. According to one such story in the Daily News, a local newspaper, the owners of the dog had left their house and were not to be seen after the video of the incident went viral.
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