Fact check: Old photos of rescue dogs wrongly connected to earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Kate S. Petersen, USA TODAY
·2 min read

The claim: Photos show Turkey earthquake rescue dogs

A Feb. 9 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) features two photos of leashed dogs. In one photo, the dog wears booties, goggles and a harness, while the other shows a muddy dog without gear.

"The search and rescue dog that came to Turkey to help, worked for hours and finally got tired. #TurkishEarthquake," reads the post's caption.

The post garnered more than 3,000 likes in five days.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

The pictures are years old and unrelated to the Feb. 6 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Rescue dogs' pictures captured years ago

More than 40,000 people have died as the result of earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6. And rescue dogs are aiding in that effort.

However, the photos in the social media post are not related to that event.

The photo of the dog wearing the goggles can be found on Getty Images with a caption that explains it helped rescuers search for people trapped by a 2017 earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico.

"Frida, a rescue dog belonging to the Mexican Navy, with her handler Israel Arauz Salinas, takes part in the effort to look for people trapped at the Rebsamen school in Mexico City, on September 22, 2017, three days after the devastating earthquake that hit central Mexico," reads the image's caption on Getty Images.

The other photo shows a rescue dog that searched for victims of a 2014 mudslide in Washington state. It can be found on Reuters Pictures.

Fact check: Beach wave video from 2017 in South Africa, not related to Turkey earthquake

USA TODAY debunked another photo of a purported rescue dog wrongly connected to the Turkey earthquake. In that case, the image was an old stock photo.

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment.

The claim was also debunked by Reuters.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Rescue dog photos wrongly connected to Turkey earthquake