India, Nov. 12 -- After incidents in Chandrapur, the Pune Forest Department is now facing a new kind of wildlife scare, this time, a deepfake. On November 10, a viral image claiming to show a tiger on a farm in Mangrul village, Junnar taluka, sparked panic among locals already wary of frequent leopard sightings.

Forest officials quickly traced the image to Dattatray Vinayak Minde, who admitted it was AI-generated. The department confirmed the photo was a forgery and urged citizens not to trust or share unverified wildlife visuals.

Smita Rajhans, assistant conservator of forests, Junnar Forest Division, said, "Such misinformation can create unnecessary fear and disturb social harmony. In this case, the forest department issued only a war...