Fact check: No, lions did not escape the Nashville Zoo
The zoo’s team has reported a viral Facebook post for being “false information.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A viewer called WSMV4 on Wednesday afternoon, concerned two lions had escaped the Nashville Zoo.
He had heard about the escaped lions on Facebook but was skeptical of the idea that two lions could have escaped the zoo without more news coverage.
His gut was right.
The Nashville Zoo confirms a viral Facebook post, which says two lions pictured escaped the Nashville Zoo and were spotted near Percy Priest dam, is false.
In fact, the zoo doesn’t even have lions. The post has been shared more than 3,000 times on Facebook.
”We are aware of this situation. A guy on Facebook made a false post claiming that 2 lions escaped Nashville Zoo,” a zoo spokeswoman said in an email. “This is incredibly false information - we do not even have lions in our care here at Nashville Zoo.”
The post has continued to spread, despite the zoo working to dispel the misinformation.
“Hopping on here to address a post that is spreading misinformation,” the zoo said in a social media post. “If you’ve seen posts going around that say lions have escaped Nashville Zoo - this is fake. We do not have lions here at Nashville Zoo.”
Zoo representatives are reaching out to the Facebook user in hopes he’ll delete the post and not misinform the public.
Copyright 2023 WSMV. All rights reserved.
