A viral article saying a whale carcass was found in Farmington, Utah, is fake.
The bogus article was published on World News Daily Report, a satirical site.
Here’s what the site’s disclaimer says: “WNDR assumes however all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purely a miracle.”
It also humorously says it is “an American Jewish Zionist newspaper based in Tel Aviv and dedicated on covering biblical archeology news and other mysteries around the Globe,” adding it is “composed of award winning christian, muslim and jewish journalists, retired Mossad agents and veterans of the Israeli Armed Forces.”
The bogus article had more than 60,000 shares as of Monday. On social media, people were apparently confused by the bogus article, and local Utah media outlets reported that the article “tied up emergency lines.”
The Davis County Sheriff’s Office said, “Attention: #DCSO has not responded to any whales in the middle of farmers fields. We do not have any information at all about this article. Thank you for your concern, but please refrain from calling our dispatchers about it. It appears to be a hoax, or at least not Farmington, Utah. Have a great weekend and if you want a laugh read the article below.”
Added one person: “We have taken more calls in dispatch today on this than any other type of call today. It’s getting old and we are wishing we could turn off the phones. LOL! They walk among us....”
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