Misleading: Beware, FRIES FM Image of Man In Lofa Killing Lion Is Not From Liberia
By: Fatorma Dunor/TSM Fellow-Lofa.
Claim: ‘’A 45 year old man Yarkpawolo Zubah fought and kill a lion in Lofa County.’’
Source: FRIES FM
Verdict: FALSE
Claim: ‘’A 45 year old man Yarkpawolo Zubah fought and kill a lion in Lofa County.’’
Source: FRIES FM
Verdict: FALSE
Full Text: On April 13, 2025, a social media group called FRIES FM posted that ’A man believing to be in his late 40s (Yarkpawolo Zubah) , fought and killed a lion in Lofa County."
FRIES FM has 183.3k followers. At the time of the check, the post had generated 327 reactions and 246 comments.
Verification: To authenticate this claim, we contacted Amos P. Johnson, who works at the Forestry Development Authority in Lofa County, who dismissed the information. Johnson said the information was incorrect and that the lion is not part of the animal species in Liberia. This statement by Johnson was confirmed by the Environmental Protection Agency. TSM checked the agency website and found that the lion is not enlisted among the protected fauna species in Liberia.
The Stage Media (TSM) also contacted Solomon Fomba, a reporter for Radio Wologizi, FM 87.9 in lower Lofa County, who said such information is misleading.
To further verify the claim, we did a thorough examination of the image in the post through a Google reverse image search and discovered that said image was published in 2022 by the International Business Time in Uganda under the headline “ SHOCKING: Uganda Man Kills Lion with Bare Hands Before Skinning and Cooking It for Dinner.”
Conclusion: Given the above, we conclude that such information posted by FRIES FM about a man killing a lion in Lofa County is misleading. Reverse image search shows that the image was taken in Uganda, not Liberia.
