Fact Check: This Video Of Man Sleeping With Cheetahs Is From South Africa, NOT Rajasthan

A video of a man sleeping with cheetahs is being shared on social media with a claim that the man is the priest of Pipleshwar Mahadev temple in Sirohi village of Rajasthan.

The caption of the video read, “राजस्थान के सिरोही गांव में पिपलेश्वर महादेव का मंदिर है जहां पर रात को पुजारी के पास चीत्ते का परिवार आकर सोता है. सरकारी वाइल्डलाइफ डिपार्टमेंट को जब यह पता लगा तो उन्होंने वहां सीसी टीवी कैमरे लगाए. आप भी देखिए यह खूबसूरत दृश्य.”

(English Translation: There is a temple of Pipleshwar Mahadev in Sirohi village of Rajasthan where the family of cheetah sleeps near the priest at night. When the government wildlife department discovered this, they installed CCTV cameras. You also see this beautiful scene)

Here’s the link to the above post.

FACT CHECK 

NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found the claim to be false.

We ran a keyword search and found the same video in a report by News 18 dated June 11, 2020.

The report mentioned that the video is of an experiment called ‘The Cheetah Experience’ conducted in South Africa in 2018 and the man was identified as Dolph Volker.

Taking a cue from this, we ran a search and found the same video on the YouTube channel of Dolph C. Volker dated January 21, 2019. “Do Cheetahs Prefer Cold Hard Concrete Or Warm Blankets Pillow & A Friend? | Three BIG CAT Night,” the video was titled.

“These captive cheetahs were bred and born at cheetah breeding centers in South Africa; one at Cheetah Experience. All are quite tame as they are groomed for the breeding program so when they have cubs, they can be monitored closely. An accepting and approachable mother allows that. There is a plan to release one of these cheetahs into a protected wild in the near future,” an excerpt from the description read.

According to a report by NDTV from 2015 and Daily Mail report from 2018, ‘Dolph C Volker, has volunteered at the Cheetah Experience Breeding Centre in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on and off for several years now.

Hence, from the above information, it is clear that an old video from South Africa is being passed off as being from Rajasthan.