Become a Member ![\\"snopes](\\"/design/images/logo-main.png\\"/) Search My Profile Logout Submit a Rumor Latest Trending News & Politics Entertainment Fact Checks Quiz Sections Latest Trending Fact Checks News Collections More Contact Us Submit a Rumor Archives Quiz FactBot Newsletters About Us Categories News & Politics Entertainment Science & Technology Lifestyle Free accounts support our journalism Become a Member Login My Profile Logout ![\\"republican_symbol\\"](\\"/design/images/republican_symbol.png\\"/) Snopes fact-checked the vice presidential debate live! Read more here ![\\"democrat_symbol\\"](\\"/design/images/democrat_symbol.png\\"/) Fact Check # Was a Giant Squid Found Beached in New Zealand? ## A video purporting to show a 50-foot-long squid beached in Punakaiki, New Zealand, was a hoax. ### Dan Evon ### Published Dec. 1, 2016 ![\\"\\"](\\" squid.jpg\\") Claim: A video shows a 50-foot-long giant squid that washed up on a beach in New Zealand in 2015. Rating: False About this rating A video purportedly showing a 50-foot-long giant squid that washed up on a beach has been around for years, but made a big splash once again on social media in November 2016: Advertisement: According to the accompanying description, the squid washed up on a beach in Punakaiki, New Zealand on 1 March 2015. However, the image featured in the video is fake, and the scene was not filmed anywhere near New Zealand, but more than 7,000 miles (almost 12,000 kilometers) away. The original image was taken in June 2012, and showed a crowd of people gathered around a humpback whale (not a squid) that had washed ashore in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada: > ![\\"humpback](\\" > whale.jpg\\") Advertisement: Armed with buckets for water and shovels for digging, the residents of White Rock streamed down to the beach early Tuesday in an attempt to help a humpback whale that had washed up on shore. But just hours after being beached on the waterfront about 45 minutes south of Vancouver, the whale died as dozens of people looked on helplessly. “The animal was alive but it was in just too weak and in such poor shape that we knew it had been distressed for a long time,” said Paul Cottrell, the marine mammal co-ordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Ocean. “It had been labouring for a long time and was swimming and just got caught by the tides.” The photograph of the \"giant squid\" was created by cropping the original image and replacing the whale with a photograph of a squid. Here\'s a comparison of the two images: ![\\"beached](\\" Advertisement: This is not the first time that a photograph of a beached whale has been used as a digital media backdrop for giant squid hoaxes. In January 2014, an image of whale was doctored and shared with a similar claim. However, neither story was true. #### Sources Fong, Petti. \"Beached humpback whale dies on shore near Vancouver.\" Toronto Sun. 12 June 2012. ### By Dan Evon Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes. ## Article Tags Giant Squid New Zealand Recommendations Advertisement: ![\\"Snopes.com\\"](\\"/design/images/logo-main.png\\") Company About Us FAQs Contact Us Submit a Topic Navigate Home Search Archive Newsletters Random Sections Latest Top Fact Checks News Account Join Login Game FactBot Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter © 1995 - 2024 by Snopes Media Group Inc. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com Terms of Use Privacy Policy DMCA Policy
A video shows a 50footlong giant squid that washed up on a beach in New Zealand in 2015