Did veterinarian/hunter Luciano Ponzetto slip and fall 100 feet during a hunt and did he die from his injuries? Yes, he did... in 2016. But the "news" of his death recently went viral again after an activist site reposted it without giving any indication it happened over two years ago.
The story went viral again via an article published on December 13, 2018 by Disclose.tv titled "Infamous Lion Hunter Slipped And Fell 100 Feet To His Death During Hunt" (archived here) which opened:
An infamous Italian veterinarian and hunter, who found fame last year due to photos of him posing with a lion he had killed recently, slipped on ice and fell 100 feet to his death while hunting.
Luciano Ponzetto, 55, was hunting birds in the hills near Turin, when he slipped and fell and into a ravine, killing him instantly.
The Italian Police were called by mountain rescue services, who had been alerted to the incident by somebody who was out hunting with him. His body was found and recovered by helicopter and then taken to the local hospital. They deduced that he had slipped and fell when he was out hunting, his death was immediate with no chance of survival.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail and they would not have seen the news was almost two years old:
Infamous Lion Hunter Slipped And Fell 100 Feet To His Death During Hunt
An infamous Italian veterinarian and hunter, who found fame last year due to photos of him posing with a lion he had killed recently, slipped on ice and fell 100 feet to his death while hunting. Luciano Ponzetto, 55, was hunting birds in the hills near Turin, when he slipped and fell and into a...
Disclose.tv describes itself on the "about" page as follows:
On Disclose.tv like-minded users discuss, submit, and share topics and videos that are
- ignored
- denied
- suppressed
- marginalized
- inadequately covered
by the mainstream media, governmental institutions, and other information gatekeepers.
Had they actually read "mainstream media" they would have discovered the story was already covered by The Sun in 2016:
Italian vet who posed next to dead lion he killed dies while shooting wild birds
A big game hunter who sparked worldwide fury when he posed next to a lion he had killed has died after falling 100ft down a ravine while shooting birds. Vet Luciano Ponzetto, 55, received death threats and hate mail after he posted the snaps of him with the lion on social media last year.
Seeing as The Sun was the newspaper with the biggest circulation in the U.K. as of 2017 we are unsure why anyone would think this story was "ignored", "denied", "suppressed", "marginalized" or "inadequately covered".
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