AI-created photos hamper search for wolf in Daejeon

An artificial intelligence (AI)-generated photo, which has sparked online debate regarding the use of generative AI, shows a wolf walking on a Daejeon street amid search efforts to find a wolf that escaped from a zoo in the city. Captured from social media

Fake and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated photos of an escaped zoo wolf are hampering efforts to track it down in Daejeon, according to authorities, as the search for the animal entered its third day on Friday.

Since Neukgu, a two-year-old male wolf, broke free by digging under the fence of its enclosure at around 9:18 a.m. Wednesday, police and fire officials have been inundated with calls and tip-offs from people who claim to have seen it. However, some have turned out to be doctored or AI-created images.

One such photo was sent to the Daejeon Fire Headquarters on the first day of the search, which showed a wolf wandering down the middle of a city street. It was later found to be fake. Based on this report, officials expanded their search beyond the zoo, but no additional evidence backed it up, and nearby surveillance cameras showed no trace of the wolf.

A closer review of the image also revealed discrepancies with the actual location, including a double stop line at a crosswalk where only a single line exists and road marking arrows that do not exactly match in position.

Meanwhile, search efforts are expanding, with authorities deploying more equipment and staff in the hills near the O‑World zoo.

According to city officials, police and fire authorities have deployed 15 drones, nine of them equipped with thermal imaging cameras, to scan the areas around Mount Bomun from the air.

On the ground, search teams have divided the low wooded hills in Sajung-dong, Chimsan-dong and Musu-dong — neighborhoods surrounding O-World — into five sectors and have been sweeping them since Thursday. The wolf was captured on cameras a few times within those sectors since its escape, officials said.

Neukgu’s last meal was two chickens about three days ago, raising concerns that it may be increasingly hungry and stressed. To lure it, officials have placed baited capture cages in the area near the zoo. Hundreds of staff have been deployed in search efforts, but the wolf has so far eluded them.

Since Thursday morning, O-World has also been repeatedly broadcasting recorded howling by the wolves that shared the zoo enclosure with Neukgu, in the hope that he will hear their calls and follow his homing instinct back to the zoo.