Outline
Circulating Facebook message claims that a massive dog featured in an attached image is a mutant created in-vitro by infusing maternal cells with Fukushima irradiated male DNA. The message links to a longer story about the mutant dog presented as a news article.
Brief Analysis
The message is a hoax. The image does not depict a real dog, mutant or otherwise. Instead, it shows a sculpture by New York-based artist Peter Coffin. The sculpture was part of an exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC. Topekas News, the site that published the fake story, is known for producing utterly fanciful nonsense disguised as news articles.
Example
Picture of a giant Fukushima mutant dog has wowed social media. According to various sources, the dog was bred in Japan using in-vitro techniques. The gametic maternal cells were infused with Fukushima irradiated male DNA, then the eggs were grown in vitro.
Detailed Analysis
A message featuring an image of a gigantic dog is currently generating interest as it makes its way around Facebook. According to the message, the massive pooch is a mutant born of radiation taken from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. The circulating message linked to a longer article previously published on Topekasnews.com.
Supposedly, the dog is the result of a scientific experiment in which maternal cells were infused with Fukushima irradiated male DNA and grown in-vitro.
However, not surprisingly, the claims in the message and article are utter nonsense. The dog is not a radiation produced giant mutant. In fact, it is not a real, living dog at all. The image depicts a sculpture by New York based artist Peter Coffin. The work was part of the artist’s Here & There exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC. The exhibition ran from June to October 2013.
A Washington Post article about the exhibition noted:
Some of Peter Coffin’s work is anything but subtle. The showstopper of the Hirshhorn exhibition is a lifelike sculpture of a giant Great Dane that seemingly floats one inch above the floor, thanks to hidden pins that support its massive bulk.With the dimensions of a small horse, the oversize pooch boasts penetrating blue eyes and a glossy black pelt. Fabricated by a taxidermist, not Coffin, the sculpture is covered with pony hide stretched over a carved, dog-shaped armature. Just like a real animal, its coat must be brushed periodically to maintain its gorgeous sheen.
The dog’s visual impact is hard to overstate. Traffic jams form in the gallery from folks whipping out cellphone cameras, and the museum encourages visitors to upload their own snaps of the dog to its photo-sharing Web site.
Although it presents itself as a news site, Topekas News specializes in publishing fanciful nonsense. Giant creatures resulting from Fukushima radiation are seemingly a favourite topic for the site’s fictional stories.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
