False: Image claiming polar bear escape in Kazakhstan likely AI-generated
An image circulated widely in early 2025 on Chinese social media claiming that a polar bear purchased by a zoo in Kazakhstan had escaped during transport and was later recaptured after a police search.
These posts said this incident was reported through live media coverage. While some only referred to “a zoo,” many others specifically named the Shymkent Zoo.
The viral image shows a polar bear sitting by a roadside as two uniformed officers, bearing the word “Polisia” on their backs, stood nearby observing the animal.
The claim gained hundreds of thousands of likes on Facebook and Xiaohongshu (archived here, here, here and here).
Annie Lab also found seven WeChat posts with tens of thousands of likes each. We suspect there can be many more posts with this image on this platform.
As the claim evolved across platforms over time, some variations of added details emerged, such as the bear “unlocking its cage” or “passively awaiting rescue.”
However, the viral image does not dipict the alleged escape.
The Shymkent Zoo told Annie Lab that it does not have a polar bear and that there have been “no incidents involving animal escapes or police intervention.”
Image of polar bear possibly made with Galaxy AI
The earliest version of the image we can find appeared on Instagram on Jan. 23, 2025.
The Instagram image, posted by seemingly a local account in Shymkent, the third-largest city in Kazakhstan, included a Russian disclaimer in the bottom-left corner reading “AI-generated content,” along with a Galaxy AI watermark from Samsung.
In later versions that spread across social media, the watermark was cropped out.
According to Samsung (archived here), all artwork generated by Galaxy AI automatically includes a watermark.
To test it, we created an image using Galaxy AI, which produced the same watermark.
Meanwhile, the police uniforms in the image closely resemble those of Kazakh law enforcement introduced in 2022 (archived here).
The image’s realistic details suggest the creator may have used an authentic photo as a base before applying Galaxy AI editing tools, though Annie Lab cannot definitively confirm this.
No polar bears in Shymkent Zoo
The official website of Shymkent Zoo (archived here) lists all its animal residents, including black and brown bears—but not polar bears.
The zoo confirmed to us that it has no polar bear through an Instagram direct message.
To our subsequent email inquiry, the zoo also said there have been “no incidents involving animal escapes or police intervention.”
It said the alleged escape depicted in the viral image is “not true.”
While a polar bear was indeed introduced to Kazakhstan in 2023, it was delivered to the Almaty Zoo, not the Shymkent Zoo, according to Qazaqatan Monitor.
The Shymkent Zoo did experience a bear-related incident in May 2021, when a brown bear attempted to break part of its enclosure.
The animal was safely contained without any escape or police search, according to local news outlets Stan, Otyrar and Sputnik. No polar bears were involved.
