“Canadian man receives the first successful horse penis transplant,” reads the header of long post published on the Nigerian Facebook page Naijazeera.com on 1 May 2019.
The post, lifted from the blog Now 8 News, claims doctors at Canada’s Vancouver General Hospital had performed the first-ever transplant of a horse penis onto a person, a 32-year-old man named Phuy Su Ling.
Both the blog and Facebook post show a photo of an obese man undergoing surgery, with what appears to be a diaper on his genital region. The report claims that during 14 hours of surgery the doctors removed the man’s penis and “replaced it with one from a horse”.
“The first ever cosmetic reconstructive surgery was not due to any health issues, but a choice the man made to increase the excitement in his love life,” it says.
The Naijazeera.com page has about 16,000 followers. The post was also shared on a Facebook group page with over a million members.
But a reverse image search reveals that the photo was first used online by at least April 2014.
According to the English-language Chinese daily newspaper China Daily, the man was named Sun Liang and “was the fattest man in the country”.
The paper reported that he died on 20 April 2014 of heart failure. Several similar photos with the same story were published in other websites.
Africa Check contacted Vancouver General Hospital to find out if there was any truth to the horse penis story.
Matt Kieltyka, the hospital’s public affairs specialist, confirmed it was made up.
“Interesting topic… but this story is definitely fake,” he said. – Dancan Bwire (20/05/19)
The post, lifted from the blog Now 8 News, claims doctors at Canada’s Vancouver General Hospital had performed the first-ever transplant of a horse penis onto a person, a 32-year-old man named Phuy Su Ling.
Both the blog and Facebook post show a photo of an obese man undergoing surgery, with what appears to be a diaper on his genital region. The report claims that during 14 hours of surgery the doctors removed the man’s penis and “replaced it with one from a horse”.
“The first ever cosmetic reconstructive surgery was not due to any health issues, but a choice the man made to increase the excitement in his love life,” it says.
The Naijazeera.com page has about 16,000 followers. The post was also shared on a Facebook group page with over a million members.
Photo was of one of China’s fattest man
But a reverse image search reveals that the photo was first used online by at least April 2014.
According to the English-language Chinese daily newspaper China Daily, the man was named Sun Liang and “was the fattest man in the country”.
The paper reported that he died on 20 April 2014 of heart failure. Several similar photos with the same story were published in other websites.
‘Interesting but definitely fake’
Africa Check contacted Vancouver General Hospital to find out if there was any truth to the horse penis story.
Matt Kieltyka, the hospital’s public affairs specialist, confirmed it was made up.
“Interesting topic… but this story is definitely fake,” he said. – Dancan Bwire (20/05/19)
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