We should always be careful about what we read and believe on the internet these days, but we should be more careful about the information we spread via word of mouth or just by hitting that ‘Share’ button. If the information isn’t reliable, you could be blindly contributing to the spreading of a hoax.
There was a momentary low point for many dog lovers as ‘news’ of Cesar Millan’s death took the internet by storm late last night.
Cesar Millan, aged 45, is well known for his television series ‘Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan’ that teaches dog owners how to understand, communicate and rehabilitate their pets. This TV series was broadcasted in eight countries worldwide from year 2004 till 2012. He also has a few books, dog training DVDs, and even pet supplies under his belt.
Not long after this horrible news went viral, other articles were surfacing stating that this was just a hoax.
The fake report was initially released by a website that claimed to be the popular Spanish news agency ProcescoMX on Tuesday morning. The false report on the fake website has since then gone viral over other news portals, Facebook and Twitter.
The fake report stated:
“The 45 year old Mexican/American, born in De la Cruz, Sinaloa, who made a name for himself with his incredible rehabilitation and training technics wit dogs, duty in which he professionally wrote three books on the topic “Cesar’s way” “Be the pack leader” and “Member of the family”, he reach worldwide popularity with his TV series “The dog Whisperer”, this name would be the new way people knew him, he died this morning in Santa Clarita hospital in California.
Millan was hospitalize yesterday afternoon, the medical reports indicate that he suffered a fulminate heart attack, which paralyze his heart unavailable for the blood to reach his brain, and other vital organs, situation witch cause the death of this humanitarian man, who years before open his foundation “Cesar Millan Foundation”, where Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of Will Smith, is Vice-president.
Upon hearing the shocking (albeit poorly written) news, his loyal fans and followers immediately took to social media expressing their heartfelt loss and praising the kind-hearted dog trainer that has made himself a household name for anyone that owns or plans to own a dog. @keremsoyyilmaz was one of the many Twitter users who took to the social media site to show regret for the celebrity’s ‘passing.
“Rest in peace beautiful man, this is sooo early. With love, your dog friend @cesarmillan.” – @keremsoyyilmaz
If you too are a Cesar Millan fan, rest assured that he is very much alive and has since been active on his social media pages. With the help of his four-legged companion Junior Millan, Cesar posted up a picture of Junior on his official Facebook page attached with a message to his friends and fans, confirming that reports of his death are in fact untrue.
There are too many fake news portals out there these days that pick on a sensitive current issue attempting some warped humour in hopes that it would gain public attention. Unfortunately, some of these portals lack tact and their sense of humour doesn’t seem to show any concern for topic sensitivity or common sense.
Makes you wonder how much free time these people really have on their hands to be able to concoct such elaborate, tactless, and untrue stories.
