Photo Shows Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Posing With Dead Elephant-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A photo shows Secretary of the Department of Interior Ryan Zinke posing with a dead African elephant.
The Truth:
A photo of a big game hunter posing beside a dead elephant does not show Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Rumors about Ryan Zinke posing with a trophy elephant kill surfaced in November 2017, just after the Trump administration approved trophy elephant imports from Africa. The administration later reversed the decision. But first, Zinke was falsely identified as the man posing beside a trophy elephant in a viral photo:
The photo first appeared at a Facebook community page called Cecil the Lion. The post states that Zinke, “appointed by Donald Trump as the most powerful person in the country” in terms of wildlife management “supports and promotes” big game hunting.
https://www.facebook.com/130711123934688/photos/a.130820520590415.1073741827.130711123934688/537530646586065/?type=3&theater
However, Ryan Zinke was quick to set the record straight. He tweeted: “The only thing I’ve hunted in Africa is terrorists” on November 21. Despite the secretary’s tweet, however, rumors that Zinke posed beside a dead elephant persisted.
https://twitter.com/SecretaryZinke/status/933046653652791296
In reality, the man pictured beside the dead elephant is a Scottish farmer named Ian Evans in 2016. A family dispute apparently led Evans’ estranged daughter-in-law to post photos of him beside big game during a trip he took to South Africa.