On 11 August 2025, the Supreme Court directed the authorities to start picking up stray dogs from all localities in Delhi-NCR and confine them in shelters within six to eight weeks, with a stipulation that they must never be rereleased into public spaces. Against this backdrop, a video of a large number of dogs confined in a large area went viral on social media claiming to be from Delhi.
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However, as we investigated, we came to know that the claim was false. The viral video is not from Delhi. Here’s the fact check.
Fact Check
We noticed a text overlay on the viral video that reads, “Erbil, Iraq”.
Taking this clue, we conducted a relevant keyword search which led us to an Instagram handle where the viral video was uploaded on 15 March 2025.
The caption of the post read, “There are supposed to be over 300 thousand stray dogs in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This hidden place somewhere outside of the city Erbil (Population 1.8 Million) is called a “shelter”, but basically the dogs (probably more than 10000) are just dumped there without enough food or medical care. Whatever you can imagine is happening there. HOW CAN WE HELP!?!?!There are supposed to be over 300 thousand stray dogs in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This hidden place somewhere outside of the city Erbil (Population 1.8 Million) is called a “shelter”, but basically the dogs (probably more than 10000) are just dumped there without enough food or medical care. Whatever you can imagine is happening there. HOW CAN WE HELP!?!?!”
We found a report published in Kurdistan 24 on 27 June 2025 that contained an image similar to the viral video. The report was about a stray dog shelter in Erbil, Kurdistan.
Please read here.
A similar video uploaded on an Instagram handle on 25 April 2024 can be seen below.
Reports containing similar videos and images can be seen here and here.
This makes it clear that the viral video is old and from Erbil, Kurdistan.
Conclusion
From our investigation, we can say that the claim is false. The viral video doesn’t show the stray dogs in Delhi. This is an old video from Erbil, Kurdistan.
Title:Old Video From Erbil, Kurdistan Going Viral As The Video Of Stray Dogs In Delhi.
Fact Check By: Debanjana BaishyaResult: False
