Tag: Snopes News

Claim:

As shared in September 2026 social media posts, a black bear took a raccoon and later a fox to a wildlife center where it had previously been treated.

Rating:

In September 2026, a rumor circulated online about a black bear that apparently took a wounded raccoon, and later a wounded fox, to a wildlife center where the bear itself had been treated.

For example, one Facebook post (archived) said:

The first time, nobody believed it. Security cameras at a wildlife center captured a black bear approaching a rear entrance carrying a wounded raccoon in its mouth. It placed the animal gently beside the door. Then disappeared into the woods.

[…]

Several weeks later, cameras recorded a bear approaching a side entrance with an injured fox. Same careful approach. Same gentle placement near the door. Same quiet exit into the trees.

Both animals were found alive and received treatment.

Workers compared the two recordings. Both bears had the same unusual white mark on their chest. Same bear. Two deliveries. Two injured animals brought to the one place that could help them.

Staff searched old photographs and records of bears previously treated at the facility. That’s when everything clicked.

Years earlier, the same bear had been rescued, treated at that very wildlife center, and released back into the wild. He had been a patient there. And now he was bringing patients back.

Officials believe the bear remembered where it had once been helped and returned because it somehow understood that injured animals would be safe there.

Other Facebook (archived) posts (archived) shared the same text. The black bear story also appeared in a YouTube short (archived).

Snopes readers sent emails and searched the website wondering whether the story was true.

There’s no evidence supporting the rumor that a black bear took a wounded raccoon and a fox to a wildlife center it had previously received treatment at. It was posted online by a page with a history of posting heartwarming — though fictitious — animal stories generated with artificial intelligence tools. 

As such, we’ve rated this claim false.

We searched Google for “bear brought raccoon to wildlife center” and “bear brought fox to wildlife center,” and also searched DuckDuckGo, Bing and Yahoo using the same phrases. None of the searches yielded credible evidence supporting the story’s veracity.

Snopes also used Google Lens to conduct a reverse image search on multiple different images posted alongside the story purportedly taken at the unidentified wildlife center.

That search revealed the story appeared to originate from the Facebook page StoryTime, which posted (archived) prior to the other social media posts linked in this fact check.

StoryTime’s history

Snopes has been fact-checking StoryTime’s animal rumors for more than a year. The page frequently posts fictitious, AI-generated animal stories supported by AI-generated images that are usually purposefully grainy and/or blurry, all meant to generate clicks because of their surprising or heartwarming nature.

At one time, the intro section on StoryTime’s Facebook page read, “story (noun) – an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment.” At present, the page’s intro section reads, “Animal rescue storytelling from around the world 🌎🐾 Real moments, inspired stories, and emotional second chances ❤️.”

Facebook users can subscribe to the page using real money, which gives the page incentive to continue pumping out the animal stories it’s known for, regardless of their reality.

AI-generated text

StoryTime’s version of the claim begins with the headline “Wildlife Center Releases Statement After Bear Saves Two Injured Animals.” StoryTime, much like the other Facebook pages telling the story, doesn’t name the wildlife center or the worker quoted, or describe any geographic details about where these events took place. (Even without those identifiers, the wildlife center’s statement, which isn’t directly quoted in the post, should have showed up in search engine results, if real.)

When we input the text of StoryTime’s version of the claim and that of another version of it into Pangram, which is widely considered the most reliable AI-text detection tool available as of this writing, it concluded that 100% of both versions were written or assisted by AI. 

It’s important to note that even the best AI detection tools can be fallible. Snopes cautions against using them to find definitive answers on the authenticity of texts or images without additional corroborating evidence.

AI-generated images

Each of the four Facebook posts linked in this story uses a different pair of images of the black bear carrying the raccoon and fox to the wildlife center, which is already a major red flag for the tale’s authenticity.

In one version, the size of the object at the bottom left of the building’s wall is sized differently in the pair of images presented.

In another version, the building is different in each of the two images presented. The bottom of the pair appears to depict a door opening inward from the right even though the door’s handle is on its left side.

In a third version, the building and its door are once again inconsistent from one image to the other.

In StoryTime’s version, neither the building, the stone patio nor the gravel-covered grounds around the building are the same between the pair of images.

The general lack of consistency between images is a telltale sign of AI generation, as artificial intelligence tools usually generate each image from scrap and therefore sometimes struggle in keeping details consistent when trying to emulate multiple images of the same place.

StoryTime does not keep its DMs open, leaving Snopes unable to contact the page for comment. StoryTime has not replied to past attempts by Snopes to contact the page’s administrators, either.

“9/11 Investigation.” History, FBI, https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/911-investigation.

MacGuill, Dan. “How 9/11 Heralded Decades of Internet Conspiracy Theories.” Snopes, 10 Sep. 2021, https://www.snopes.com//news/2021/09/10/september-11-conspiracy-theories/.

“Toxins and Health Impacts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 9.11 World Trade Center Health Program, https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/exhibition/toxins-and-health-impacts.html.

In August 2026, an online quote spread online claiming serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who ate the flesh of some of his victims, said he didn’t cannibalize people with tattoos because the ink tasted bad. The rumor spread on Instagram, Reddit and Facebook.

Snopes readers have been sending us this particular Dahmer anecdote for years. Some asked us to confirm whether Dahmer actually said, “I ate someone with a tattoo once. Made the meat taste like s***.” A post on Instagram stated Dahmer said that “tattoos taste terrible” and used it facetiously to encourage people to get tattoos and save themselves from cannibals.

(Instagram user @dark_grey_tattoo)

Snopes looked closely at interviews, FBI reports and documentaries detailing Dahmer’s crimes and found no evidence he ever made such a comment. We did find, however, that the claim is often posted by tattoo artists and studios as an advertisement encouraging people to get tattoos. Until we learn more, we will leave this claim as unproven. 

Dahmer killed 17 young men and boys over the course of 13 years. In 1992, he was convicted of murder and handed 15 consecutive life sentences in prison. Two years later, another inmate beat him to death.

In interviews with the news media and FBI agents, Dahmer spoke of eating his victim’s hearts, livers and thigh meat, and one time ate a bicep as a way of keeping them “a part of me.” FBI agent Robert Ressler interviewed Dahmer, who described his actions as a “perverse sexual practice.”

In 1993, Inside Edition conducted an interview with Dahmer while he was in prison. He didn’t say anything about tattoos. 

The Netflix documentary series “Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes” shed more light on his inclinations. Interviews with law enforcement showed he liked certain body types and offered to take his victims’ photographs. In one instance he cut off and preserved a victim’s head and genitals. He also took photos of body parts of victims he liked. Dahmer described having sex with the insides of a person in his interview recordings with investigators. 

We were unable to find evidence that Dahmer confessed a preference for eating untattooed skin in any of those sources. 

Snopes has covered numerous claims about Dahmer, including the true story of how Milwaukee police returned a victim, Konerak Sinthasomphone, to Dahmer after accepting the serial killer’s explanation that the injured 14-year-old boy was his lover. 

Sources

Claim:

U.S. President Donald Trump posted an animated video of himself repeatedly hitting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his Truth Social account in September 2026.

Rating:

Context

Trump did not post the animated video. However, he did post a still, cartoon image of himself standing over Carney, both wearing hockey gear, with the Canadian prime minister on the ground and the U.S. president telling him, “Get up, Governor.” This image was the basis for the animation.

In late summer 2026, amid an escalating trade war between the United States and Canada, U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up attacks and threats directed at Canada and its leaders.

As tensions between the two countries increased, a claim circulated in September that Trump posted an animated video of himself repeatedly hitting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with a hockey stick.

For example, one Bluesky user shared the clip (archived) and wrote, “Trump is getting worse. He posted this on Truth Social. My God, somebody remove him from office!”

(Bluesky user @andrewmfounder.bsky.social)

The animation, and its attribution to Trump, was also shared on Reddit (archived) and in several X posts (archived, archived). Multiple Snopes readers sent us emails asking if Trump really posted it.

In short, while Trump did post a still, cartoon image of himself in hockey gear standing over Carney, which was the basis of the animation, Trump did not post the animated version himself. Therefore, we’ve rated this claim mostly false.

The timestamp visible on Trump’s alleged post featuring the video reads, “Sep 06, 2026, 4:08 PM.”

At 4:08 p.m. PDT, Trump did post (archived) to his Truth Social account a still, cartoon image of himself standing over a fallen Carney. Both men are shown wearing hockey gear. A speech bubble shows Trump’s character telling the Canadian prime minister to, “Get up, Governor.”

Trump’s Truth, an archive of Trump’s current and deleted Truth Social posts, shows (archived) the U.S. president posted eight times between 4:07 PDT and 4:09 PDT on Sept. 6, 2026. (Trump’s Truth uses U.S. Eastern time for timestamps, so on the website the posts are listed between 7:07 p.m. and 7:09 p.m.)

The posts immediately before the cartoon image of Trump standing over Carney in hockey gear include a golf video and a tier list of presidents, with Trump ranked highest. Two of the posts immediately following that cartoon image show an image related to Iran and a digital illustration of Trump.

At no point did Trump post the full animation that was shared elsewhere on social media.

Trump frequently posts and reposts AI-generated content on his Truth Social accounts, including many such posts that Snopes has fact-checked.

The animation falsely attributed to Trump features an unofficial watermark stating “Animated by Grok.” It was not possible to confirm whether Grok was used to create the video as it was not possible to locate the person who originally created and shared the clip. 

It was also not possible to determine with certainty whether the original image Trump posted was AI-generated. Snopes contacted the White House for confirmation. We also asked whether Trump ever posted the animation in question. We will update this report if we hear back.

For further reading, in August 2026 we published a collection of 24 fact checks about things Trump actually posted to social media.

Claim:

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration renamed roughly 650 geographic features.

Rating:

Context

The claim emerged in response to criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders changing the names of the geographic features known as the Gulf of Mexico, Denali and Lake Ontario. It’s based on a false equivalence, however. In 2021, Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed an order renaming the roughly 650 geographic features because their existing names contained a racial slur demeaning Native American women.

U.S. President Donald Trump has, as of this writing, issued two executive orders during his second term mandating that the Interior Department, in coordination with the country’s Board on Geographic Names, rename these familiar landmarks:

1. the Gulf of Mexico, to the Gulf of America
2. Denali, to Mount McKinley, restoring the government’s official name for the tallest mountain in North America from 1917 to 2015
3. Lake Ontario, to Lake America

Trump’s orders were criticized around the world, including by many Americans.

But according to posts on social media, former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration engaged in its own renaming spree, changing the official names of approximately 650 different geographic features. This, the posts said, is evidence that the public holds a double standard against Trump.

Snopes readers searched the site looking to see whether the government had actually renamed 650 different locations during Joe Biden’s presidency. We found the claim was true, though comparing the two actions was a reach.

The Biden-era efforts, led by then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, had one goal: renaming locations throughout the U.S. whose names included a racial slur demeaning Native American women. Trump’s executive orders, by contrast, targeted some of the country’s most prominent landmarks, including two bodies of water only partially controlled by the U.S.

“Derogatory names have previously been identified by the Secretary of the Interior or the Board on Geographic Names and have been comprehensively replaced,” read the Interior Department’s November 2021 news release announcing the order. As precedent, it cited a 1962 order eliminating the use of the N-word and a 1974 order eliminating the use of a slur for Japanese people.

In September 2022, the Interior Department published a news release announcing that the Board on Geographic Names had approved new names for each of the affected locations, alongside a list of all the changes and a map of the renamed locations. There were indeed approximately 650 new names.

It’s worth noting, though, that beyond the renamed Olympic Valley, California, which hosted the 1960 Winter Olympic Games, none of the locations that underwent a name change under Biden could be considered nationally prominent in the same way as Lake Ontario, the Gulf of Mexico or Denali. 

For further reading, we’ve also covered a rumor suggesting that Trump signed an executive order renaming the state of New Mexico to “New America.”

Sources

Claim:

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to claim U.S. ownership of the moon in a Truth Social post.

Rating:

Context

Trump’s Truth Social post strongly implied the president considers the moon to be under U.S. ownership, but it’s unclear whether the post amounted to an official declaration. The U.S. previously ratified a United Nations treaty that says countries can’t “claim” celestial bodies like the moon. It’s unclear whether Trump’s post constitutes a breach of that treaty.

In early September 2026, social media users shared (archived) an alleged Truth Social post by U.S. President Donald Trump that appeared to declare the moon a U.S. territory. 

(X user @WarFrontIntel)

Some social media users who discussed Trump’s alleged post wondered whether the U.S. could actually own the moon. For example, on Sept. 7, one Facebook page wrote: 

For a few hours, the internet has been asking the same strange question: can a country actually own the Moon?

President Donald Trump posted an image on Truth Social on September 6 with the words “THE MOON IS OURS” beside an American flag. The post is real, but the claim that he has formally made the Moon U.S. territory goes further than what actually happened. There was no accompanying executive order or legal declaration transferring the Moon to the United States. 

Similar posts about Trump’s purported declaration and its legal validity circulated on Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), X (archived) and Bluesky (archived).

Trump did appear to claim U.S. ownership of the moon in a Truth Social post. On Sept. 6, the president posted (archived) an image of the moon on Truth Social featuring the text “The Moon is Ours” followed by a U.S. flag.

It was unclear whether Trump’s post amounted to the United States officially claiming ownership of the moon and, if so, whether other nations would recognize it.  

Snopes previously reported that according to the United Nations Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, no country, including the U.S., can own the moon.

The treaty’s Article II said that celestial bodies, including the moon, are not subject to “national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” This essentially means that nations signing the treaty agree not to claim celestial bodies as their own.

The U.S. was a founding signatory of the treaty and ratified it, meaning it could face political or economic consequences such as sanctions or embargoes for breaking it. It was unclear whether Trump’s Truth Social post amounted to a breach of treaty.

We contacted the White House Press Office to ask whether Trump would withdraw the U.S. from The Outer Space Treaty in order to move forward with laying formal claim to the moon. We also contacted the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, which helps countries draft and revise international space laws, to ask whether it would treat Trump’s Truth Social post as a breach of that treaty. We await replies to our queries.

It was unclear as of this writing what would come of Trump’s apparent declaration. Declarations that a nation owns a territory are contingent on other nations respecting such an announcement. Given the fact that China, Russia, India and Japan (the four other nations that have reached the moon aside from the U.S.) also signed The Outer Space Treaty that said the moon was not subject to “national appropriation,” it appeared unlikely that they would recognize a U.S. claim.

Trump’s post suggesting he viewed the moon as a U.S. territory was consistent with his administration’s messaging about space. 

The president has worked towards establishing a U.S. presence on the moon during his second administration. In a Jan. 25, 2025, executive order titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” Trump wrote that his administration aimed to establish “elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030.” The executive order also said the administration would work to deploy nuclear reactors “on the Moon and in orbit, including a lunar surface reactor” that would be ready for launch by 2030.

During his first administration, Trump signed an executive order titled “Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources” that said the U.S. did not view space as a “global commons,” meaning areas that lie outside of national jurisdiction. Essentially, the order suggested Trump’s first administration thought that space could be governed by individual nations like the U.S.

For further reading, Snopes has investigated a series of other rumors about the moon and space.

Sources

Claim:

An image authentically shows Pope Leo XIV wearing Nike sneakers with his vestments.

Rating:

Context

The picture predates the papacy of Leo, whose real name is Robert Prevost.

In 2026, people shared an image allegedly showing Pope Leo XIV wearing Nike sneakers with his vestments.

For example, on May 9, an Instagram user shared (archived) the image with the caption, “Pope Leo XIV wearing Nikes with his vestments from ‘Leone a Roma’ Trailer by Vatican News (2026).”

(@durangoism via Instagram)

Other users shared the image on various social media platforms.

In today’s age of evolving artificial intelligence, some people might question the authenticity of such an image showing the man now serving as pope, whose real name is Robert Prevost, donning such casual footwear.

In short, the image is real and predates his time in the papacy. As some users’ posts said, the photo originated in “Leone a Roma,” a documentary released in 2026 that attempts to “retrace the years Robert Francis Prevost spent in the Eternal City” — a reference to Rome. Vogue identified the shoes as a pair of Nike Franchise Low Plus sneakers.

Snopes emailed the Holy See press office to ask for further information, including to confirm exactly when the photo was taken.

The picture appears at the 0:51 mark in the film’s trailer:

The same photo also makes an appearance during a montage in the full documentary (28:28). That montage begins with the brief onscreen title “World Youth Day 2008,” as well as pictures of people wearing clothing referencing that day, indicating someone possibly took the photo either at that specific gathering or another past youth event.

Leo also appeared on Vanity Fair’s 2026 “best dressed list,” with the publication referencing the photo with his “most memorable look,” reading, “Even prior to the papacy, Leo, FKA Father Bob, took his modest cream cassock to heavenly heights by pairing them with Nikes.” For his “fashion claim to fame,” the outlet wrote, “Leo has kept his sense of wry casualness, sometimes sporting baseball caps.”

For further reading, we previously investigated the claim that Leo said no one can use God to justify war, as well as the claim he used AI to write his first encyclical.

Balk, Tim. “Can Democrats Win Back the Senate? Why Their Chances Are Improving.” The New York Times, 24 Aug. 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/us/politics/democrats-republicans-midterms-senate-majority.html.

Bobic, Igor. “Democrats Are Getting More Bullish About Taking the Senate.” NOTUS, 21 Aug. 2026, https://www.notus.org/2026-election/democrats-path-senate-majority-map.

Esposito, Joey. “Did Trump Call James Talarico’s Support of Trans People an ‘Insult to Jesus’?” Snopes, 24 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-talarico-insult-jesus/.

———. “‘God Is Nonbinary’: What James Talarico Said While Opposing Texas Anti-Trans Youth Sports Bill in 2021.” Snopes, 16 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/james-talarico-god-nonbinary/.

———. “Posts Sharing James Talarico Quote about Hating Christianity Omit Context.” Snopes, 26 June 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/talarico-hates-christianity-quote/.

———. “Talarico Voted against Bill Meant to Protect Texas Land from Chinese Interests. Here’s Why.” Snopes, 3 Sept. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/talarico-china-texas-land-bill/.

Izzo, Jack. “Republicans Claim James Talarico, Texas Candidate for US Senate, Is Vegan. He’s Not.” Snopes, 29 May 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/james-talarico-isnt-vegan/.

Lee, Jessica. “Did Texas Rep. Talarico Open Up About Having Diabetes and Announce Insulin Cap Bill?” Snopes, 8 Apr. 2021, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/james-talarico-diabetes/.

M, et al. “As Competitive Senate Map Emerges, Both Democrats and Republicans See a Path to Win.” NPR, 17 July 2026. Politics. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2026/07/17/nx-s1-5875199/as-competitive-senate-map-emerges-both-democrats-and-republicans-see-a-path-to-win.

Rascouët-Paz, Anna. “Hegseth’s Pastor Said He Wants Democratic Texas Rep. James Talarico ‘crucified.’ Here’s Context.” Snopes, 27 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/hegseth-pastor-talarico-crucified/.

Christensen, Laerke. “Did Adm. Alvin Holsey Call Trump ‘a Disgrace’ before Abrupt Resignation? Not so Fast.” Snopes, 10 Dec. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-disgrace-holsey-resignation/.

———. “Did Pope Leo XIV Call Trump ‘Vicious, Old B******’? Don’t Be Fooled.” Snopes, 24 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/pope-leo-xiv-trump-quote/.

———. “Did US Figure Skater Ilia Malinin Receive Threatening Message from Trump?” Snopes, 6 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/ilia-malinin-message-trump/.

———. “Trump Didn’t Call Various Public Figures ‘offenders of Jesus,’ despite Claims.” Snopes, 6 May 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-offenders-jesus/.

Deng, Rae. “Don’t Believe Claim Pope Leo XIV Gave ‘fiery Sermon’ after Trump Called Him ‘Insult to Jesus.’” Snopes, 30 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/pope-leo-trump-insult-jesus/.

Ibrahim, Nur. “Be Wary of Images Showing Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘final Monologue’ after Trump Criticism.” Snopes, 8 Dec. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/jimmy-kimmel-monologue-trump/.

———. “Did Pope Leo XIV Say Trump Is ‘destroying Democracy’ to Stay out of Prison?” Snopes, 28 July 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/pope-leo-xiv-trump-democracy/.

Izzo, Jack. “Historian Heather Cox Richardson Didn’t Go Live at 3 a.m. after Receiving Threat. Here’s How We Know.” Snopes, 23 May 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/heather-cox-richardson-threat/.

———. “Snopestionary: AI Slop, Explained.” Snopes, 22 Aug. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//articles/470975/ai-slop-media-literacy/.

———. “Tune out Claim about Stephen Colbert’s Impromptu 3 a.m. Broadcast.” Snopes, 24 Feb. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/stephen-colbert-3-am-monologue/.

———. “Tune out Claim Pope Leo XIV Went Live at 3 a.m. to Share ‘Urgent Message.’” Snopes, 25 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/pope-leo-live-3-am-urgent-message/.

———. “Watch out for Alleged Video of US Women’s Hockey Captain Hilary Knight Declining White House Invite.” Snopes, 27 Feb. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/hilary-knight-white-house/.

———. “Watch out for Fake Video of Queen Camilla Calling Trump ‘Arrogant and Rude Clown.’” Snopes, 5 May 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/queen-camilla-trump-rude-clown/.

Liles, Jordan. “Deepfake Videos of George Will on Trump, Supreme Court Spread Misinformation.” Snopes, 3 Jan. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/george-will-trump-deepfake-videos/.

———. “Did Bill Clinton Criticize Trump’s Comments about Pope Leo XIV? Watch out for Fake Audio.” Snopes, 16 Apr. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/bill-clinton-trump-pope-audio/.

———. “Did Josh Groban Confront Trump about Asking Band to Play Song ‘You Raise Me Up’?” Snopes, 4 Nov. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-josh-groban/.

———. “Did Matthew McConaughey Host Livestream about Epstein Files, Bondi and Trump?” Snopes, 27 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/mcconaughey-livestream-epstein-files/.

———. “Kenny Loggins Filed $900M Lawsuit against Trump?” Snopes, 24 Oct. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/kenny-loggins-sues-trump/.

———. “Watch out for Videos Claiming Gen. Randy George Spoke out against Trump.” Snopes, 6 Oct. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/general-randy-george-trump-comments/.

Nevins, Mark. “Why It’s Time To Stop Saying ‘Move Fast And Break Things.’” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/hillennevins/2026/03/26/why-its-time-to-stop-saying-move-fast-and-break-things/. Accessed 1 Sept. 2026.

Rascouët-Paz, Anna. “Posts Claim Eric Clapton Called Trump ‘disgrace to America’ and ‘Cancer on Society.’ Here’s the Truth.” Snopes, 29 Dec. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/eric-clapton-trump-disgrace-cancer/.

Winter, Emery. “Did Caitlin Clark Respond to Trump’s ‘attack’ with Uplifting Message?” Snopes, 5 Aug. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/caitlin-clark-response-trump-attack/.

———. “Did David Muir ‘snap’ on Air, Warning of Martial Law and No Midterms?” Snopes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/david-muir-martial-law-warning/.

———. “Did Warren Buffett Warn of Trump Declaring Martial Law and ‘canceling’ Democracy? Here’s the Truth.” Snopes, 25 May 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/warren-buffett-trump-warning/.

Wrona, Aleksandra. “Did Bill Clinton Give Speech Criticizing Trump’s Mount Rushmore Address?” Snopes, 23 July 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/clinton-trump-mount-rushmore-speech/.

Claim:

A U.S. military dog named Valor was honored at the Pentagon for surviving a suicide bombing and saving 47 soldiers in 2023.

Rating:

In 2026, people online repeatedly shared a tale framed as a true story about a heroic dog receiving an award for its military service at the Pentagon. For example, one Facebook post (archived) included an image depicting a dog with the right side of its face scarred — apparently K9 Valor — receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. 

The text of the post read:

This is K9 Valor. He saved 47 soldiers. He survived a suicide bomber, then went on to stop three more, fighting tooth against knife. In the end, he placed himself between an explosion and his handler.

The blast shattered half his face. He lost his left eye and ear. He was flown to Germany, where surgeons worked to rebuild his jaw.

At the Pentagon, he was honored with a standing ovation that lasted over eight minutes.

A true American hero

This story (archived) appeared numerous times (archived) on Instagram (archived), X (archived) and Reddit (archived). The same account that shared the above Facebook post in June reposted the story (archived) nearly a month later and again the following month (archived). Snopes readers sent us emails asking whether it was true.

A version of the story shared on LinkedIn (archived) went into more detail than the others. That post described the dog, K9 Valor, being wounded by a suicide bomber at Kabul International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021. Even after being injured, Valor supposedly warned soldiers of a second bomb just in time for them to avoid the blast, and then charged and kill three insurgents trying to shoot wounded survivors. According to the post, Valor became the first dog to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in May 2023.

This story, however, was fabricated out of whole cloth. There is no evidence of a K9 Valor present at the Kabul Airport suicide bombing or of a dog being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Therefore, we’ve rated this claim as false.

Since even the less detailed versions of the claim shared an image of a dog receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, Snopes first searched if a “Valor” or any other dog has received the medal. The Congressional Medal of Honor can be identified by its light blue ribbon with 13 stars and the unique design of the medal itself.

A recipient search for “valor” on the Medal of Honor Museum website returned no results. A dog doesn’t appear among the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s list of recipients who received the award for serving in Afghanistan. A list of “firsts” among Medal of Honor recipients did not identify a first dog to have received an award.

A blog post from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said it welcomed just two new members to its ranks in 2023. Neither received the award in May and both were humans. 

The organization Animals in War and Peace awards service animals medals for their duty, often in war. While many of its recipients are Belgian Malinois dogs like Valor apparently is, none of the organization’s award recipients have stories about suffering wounds from one bombing and immediately saving soldiers from a second. Its award ceremonies typically occur in March, not May, and at the U.S. Capitol, not the Pentagon.

Immediately after the suicide bombing at Kabul International Airport, U.S. officials reportedly believed a second bombing occurred nearby. The U.S. Department of Defense clarified the following day that it no longer believed there was a second explosion, and instead the attack was carried out by a single suicide bomber.

That would mean the events as described in the LinkedIn post couldn’t have happened, since there was no second bomb from which to save 47 soldiers.

Snopes has sent U.S. Central Command an email asking whether any dog with a similar story to the one here was present at the 2021 Kabul bombing. We will update this story if and when we receive a reply.

Images show signs of AI generation

The images shared with the posts showed signs of being generated or edited using artificial intelligence tools.

Some readers may have already noticed one piece of evidence: Even though the posts say Valor lost his left eye, the dog in the image used in the Facebook post above appears to be missing its right eye.

In another version of that same image, an insignia that doesn’t match any used in the U.S. military is visible on the arm of the service member’s jacket. His insignia shows four evenly spaced chevrons pointing up, but across the U.S. military the fourth line in insignias are separated from the others by a space and curve downward.

A Google SynthID check, a tool that checks for hidden watermarks Google AI adds to images and video, found that all or part of that image was edited or generated by Google AI.

Additionally, various posts used AI-generated images of different dogs that are supposedly K9 Valor. For example, the more detailed story from the LinkedIn post included an image of a different dog with both ears still present, despite Valor allegedly having lost his left ear. Again, a Google SynthID check found that the image was edited or generated by Google AI.

Snopes previously reported on this claim in June and July 2026. We’re reporting on it again due to continued interest in the claim.