Why did they make the false claim? Because the anointed Left can lie lie lie and the press will report it un critically.
Articles like this are a good reason to engage with leftist relatives and acquaintances on Face Book.
They will actually read these sometimes. It begins to chip away at their holier-than-thou attitude from an unexpected angle.
It ticks all the boxes - cute/iconic animals, gun control, hunting (even though it isn’t), a faraway place, sketchy details and thus easy to pin blame - or shift it at will.
The information age is a sociological bust BUT think of all the false lefty narratives that have been exposed.
For a more depressing thought, think of all the lefty narratives issued over the previous decades that WEREN’T exposed - and knowing we have absorbed, believed and/or repeated some of them. It’s getting to the point that if the technology of the Trump era had been around during Nixon I would give it 50/50 odds that he wouldn’t have resigned.