Artificial Intelligence-triggered misinformation sparked panic in Telangana’s Medak district after AI-generated images of a tiger prowling village roads went viral, prompting frightened residents to launch searches and forcing forest officials to step in.

The scare began on Monday when a youth, Venkat Karolla shared an image online, claiming he had spotted a tiger between Datharpally and Malkapur.

Soon after, another image appeared, apparently showing the same tiger crossing the same road. Both were created using Artificial Intelligence.

Within hours, the images went viral on WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages. By evening, villagers gathered in large numbers to search for the animal. Farmers and cattle herders were too frightened to step out.

Adding to the confusion, the panic came just two weeks after a real leopard had been sighted near Datharpally by a local named Swamy.

The leopard was seen again multiple times by other villagers, making the AI fakes seem all the more believable.

Forest officials intervened. Toopran Forest Range Officer Amber Singh told Telangana Today, “The movement of the tiger is just a rumour. We will identify those circulating fake images and ensure action is taken.”

The Medak incident is not isolated.

In recent weeks, AI-generated videos of tiger “attacks” have appeared across the country, some so realistic that even local police and forest departments initially investigated them.

In Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district a video surfaced last week claiming to show a tiger attacking a man outside the Brahmapuri Forest Guest House. The clip, styled as CCTV footage, showed the man being dragged away by the animal.

But the Maharashtra forest department debunked it, confirming the video was fabricated using AI tools.

A police case was registered at Deolapar Police Station against a Mumbai-based social media user for spreading misinformation.

The Chandrapur District Information Office clarified on X that the clip had no link to any real incident and was “completely fake.”

The Press Information Bureau (Maharashtra) also stated the video was not real CCTV footage, as claimed online.

The Drunk man and the tiger

Another viral six-second clip circulated recently showed a man feeding liquor to a tiger on an empty street, casually patting it as though it were a pet. The video, widely shared with claims that it came from the Pench Tiger Reserve, was also confirmed to be AI-generated.

The false post called the man a 52-year-old labourer named Raju Patel, allegedly mistaking a tiger for a cat after a night of drinking. The fabricated story went on to claim that forest officials later tranquilised the tiger.

None of it was true.

The tiger, the man, the street, all were AI creations. The Nagpur Rural Police identified the Instagram account, “aikalaakari” that first posted the clip on October 30, 2025 and issued a legal notice.

Earlier this year, another “tiger attack” video circulated widely on Instagram, showing a woman being dragged by a tiger after stepping out of a car. The post, shared by the handle Pratahkal Live, claimed the incident happened after a fight between the woman and her husband.

Fact-checking later revealed that the footage was not recent at all—it was a 2016 video from Beijing’s wildlife park originally published by CGTN and reported by BBC at the time.

Yet, from 2022 to 2025, the same clip resurfaced, labelled as an “Indian tiger attack”.