No, North Carolina’s wild horses were not wrapped in insulation
We recently saw a post on Facebook featuring a series of images of people on a cold beach wrapping horses with what looked like duct tape and insulation material. The post, tagged at Corolla Wild Horse Beach in Corolla, North Carolina, received approximately 10,000 reactions and 5,800 comments, and was shared 2,000 times on social media.
Corolla is located in the Outer Banks, a chain of islands in North Carolina that, in addition to a nerve-wracking teen adventure drama of the same name, is home to wild horses, the Spanish Colonial Mustangs. The region was also bracing for record snowfall and freezing temperatures.
“Today, the nonprofit Outer Banks People helped prepare wild horses for low temperatures and possible snow. To keep them warm during the extreme cold, we carefully wrapped them in recycled insulation materials,” the Facebook post read. “Right now, we are accepting donations of insulation and duct tape to continue to support our efforts. Every contribution helps keep our local wildlife warm and safe during winter conditions.”
We found it hilarious. The use of insulating materials to keep horses warm surprised our resident horseman, but perhaps desperate times truly called for desperate measures. Additionally, the photographs are incredibly realistic. They are not particularly good quality and the framing is not perfect either.
Things started to look suspicious when we couldn’t find any entity called “Outer Banks People.” It turned out to be another example of AI bait and switch. The profile was full of other interesting content: a rodent in a prison jumpsuit, what looks like a cross between a horse and a sphynx cat with a wig on its head, and authorities brandishing flamethrowers in front of a gas station, to name a few.
Chris Winter, executive director of the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, put the final nail in the coffin by confirming that “this is completely false; the images are generated by AI,” he said. Popular science. “It is regrettable that these messages continue to be published, as it causes considerable and widespread concern for the welfare of horses.”
This incident rightly occurs following a Conservation biology study we reported on last year, in which researchers highlighted problems associated with AI-made videos and photos of wild animals on social media, including presenting a false impression of the animal world.
Moral of the story, take a closer look at this awesome animal content before you share it.
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