By: Vivek J
February 10 2023
False: This is an image of a rescue dog in Turkey after it saved 10 lives following the February 6 earthquake.
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
An old image of a rescue dog from 2014 is misrepresented to show that it is from the recent rescue operations from Turkey in 2023.
Claim ID beee7829
Context
The massive earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria have left over 20,000 people dead and thousands more injured or missing. Several countries have sent teams of rescuers and aid packages to these disaster zones. Among these are canine units from many countries, including rescue dogs from Mexico that made headlines following earthquakes in 2017.
Amid this, social media users have been praising the efforts of canine units in rescuing people from the rubble in Turkey. This trend also led to multiple unrelated images being shared. One such image was shared on Facebook with the caption, "A rescue dog photographed in Turkey, reported to have saved over 10 lives so far." However, this photo has been miscaptioned.
In Fact
The image of the search dog shared on Facebook, which garnered over 20,000 views and over 2,500 reactions, is not from Turkey. Research led us to articles on rescue operations during a mudslide in Oso, Washington, back in March 2014 that killed 43 people.
Reuters images listed this same picture on its website on March 30, 2014. The name of the photographer is mentioned as Rick Wilking. The caption of this image reads. "Tryon, the rescue dog, waits to go through the decontamination area at the mudslide after searching for victims in Oso, Washington, March 30, 2014." The Associated Press has also listed this image in their AP Images library. Thus, it is evident that this image is not from Turkey and is unrelated to the February 2023 earthquakes.
On March 22, 2014, a massive landslide happened in the Steelhead Haven neighborhood in Oso, Washington. This landslide blocked State Route 530 and cut off access to other places along this road. Rescue operations were held for days, and while many people were rescued, 43 people lost their lives. Search dogs were also deployed to conduct rescue operations, and Tryon, the one pictured in the now-viral image, was among them.
The Verdict
An image of a rescue dog named Tryon from rescue operations for the 2014 landslides in Oso, Washington, U.S., has been shared, claiming to be from Turkey. This image is unrelated to the rescue operations following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in 2023. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.