If you have a concern that an animal rescue video is staged, and that animals are intentionally being placed in harmful situations so that they can be "rescued," I strongly recommend reporting the channel to the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition linked here: www.smaccoalition.com/report-a-concern
Thank you for posting the link, KP! And I'll add, once again, a recommendation for people who want to report such videos to TH-cam to please watch the 2-part tutorial by "The Monkey Sentinel." He explains how to report _in a way that gets a human's attention,_ since most reports are filtered by an Algorithm.
@@KPassionate thank you. I will share this with my other social media groups as well. Offering a possible solution is great. Awareness only gets us all so far. I wish that TH-cam and other platforms would have an “animal abuse” choice in their reporting mechanism.
@@Renegade1127 Yes, and it’s one of the many reasons social media is broken. The people behind the scenes are actively contributing to animal torture and are too self absorbed to fix their easily fixed platforms. A friend on Facebook witnessed a truly horrific video of a kitten being murdered violently, and he spent years trying to get it taken down. But it was still there last I checked despite how many people reported it.
Quick way to spot fakes: they usually talk about “a man” or “a woman,” no specific names or places. If the narrator has no idea who’s in the video, it’s almost certainly a fake. Thank you for calling these out; I’m getting a TON of these in my feed recently.
I like how animals change from one species to another and then back again like nobody will notice......lol....I watched one the other day in which a squirrel kept changing to a chipmunk......and then back again......
There was a video about a Russian guy rescuing a wolf pup. How he was walking down the road and found it by a tree. The actual guy who rescued the wolf pup commented on the fake video with the facts. He runs a wolf sanctuary in Russia.
There are way too many of these AI-narrated animal videos with changing species, Disney-fication, giving animals human emotions etc... They're mass-produced click-bait crap. Thanks for helping to educate ✌🏻
@@daniellamcgee4251 Sadly, youtube doesn't care. I've reported channels that were clearly bought or hacked and repurposed for posting clickbait animal videos (sometimes these cobbled together messes, sometimes clearly people putting animals in danger to "rescue" them) and they stay up no matter how many times I report them. The only time I've heard of youtube even commenting about it was after a sustained and loud public shaming by someone with enough of a platform to get their attention even for a second, and youtube STILL did nothing.
another thing is the anthropomorphizing in the fake videos. “she panicking was looking around for something” “she cried tears of joy” animals emote WAYYY differently than humans, and actual animal rescuers know that
@@jambon2730 That makes me think of all those "I showed this [insert primate] a magic trick" videos, where someone does a simple sleight of hand trick outside a primate enclosure, and the animal reacts with "astonishment". I'm no animal behaviour expert, but I'm pretty sure the reaction is just an aggressive response when the person looks them in the eye and smiles excitedly after completing the trick. It probably didn't even follow or comprehend the trick.
That particular AI voice is a clue that the thing is fake. Also, phrases like "the cat came to the man...," or "the girl saw the bird, the bird called to the girl..." etc. Thanks for this. I've gotten really turned off by these and I'm glad you're exposing them.
To be fair, animals calling for help isn't unheard of, at least if those animals have regular contact with humans. There is a hilarious story about how a mother elephant who called for her caretakers to see her child because she couldn't wake him up, turns out the little elephant was just in a deep sleep and there was not wrong with him, but it certainly worried the mom enough to call for help.
Also, ascribing emotions and characteristics that aren’t consistent with the animal’s real behavior. Like “the baby monkey was crying” they don’t cry. Or like, “the dog thanked the lady who saved him” although a dog can show gratitude through body language, usually when a dog escapes a scary situation, it’s just gonna run for safety. They don’t “thank” people.
I have been getting very friendly with the "Do Not Recommend Channel" button because of this and am glad other people have noticed it. The odious voice is a dead give-away, is also a clue.
Unfortunately, no matter how many times I press "Don't recommend channel" - there will always be another channel doing the same kind of content that I don't like, getting recommended to me. But it's nice to not see certain channels recommended again.
@@eglol just stick with it and evebtually your feed will be cleaned up, lol. It took a long time, but I made it a point to block any channel that featured a Joe Rogen clip. I probably blocked a good 100 channels haha, but they seem to finally be gone from my youtube shorts scrolling. There's a lot of clones trying to prpfot off the same virality, but I assure you, its not infinite. Dont let them defeat you, lol
I'm honestly very glad someone as connected to otters was able to debunk this weird ai video. I remember watching it and having it get on my nerves with how many different baby otters it showed, it just makes me uneasy. Good on you you took time to set the records straight!
@@KPassionate I only learned how sensitive turtle shells are when I watched a video like this of an expert calling out a "rescuer" who was ripping barnacles off turtles with a pair of pliers or similar. It's so distressing to see when you know how much it hurts the poor animal. It also awakened an interest in herpetology, when I had been strictly a bird and mammal gal before. :)
*Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.* *TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
Has happened before, there was a youtube channel made up of children helping dogs who were caught in black tartar!!! Imagine those poor animals The channel was reported and closed down but I bet there are way more that just haven't gotten the attention
This phenomenon infuriates me. Especially those suspect cat and dog rescue vids where it seems apparent that the guy filming the animals has just abused/ tortured that animal. The rescuer never shows their voice or face either.
@@conlon4332 They are frequently, in my experience, as if found on a road, so someone gets out with their mobile phone so you don't see them. Sadly, yes they are around if you let YT algorithm catch on you like animals quite a bit in fact, then they come up as suggestions alongside the genuine ones. I wish there were some way to tell You Tube, we need a policy around animal cruelty.
Thank you for posting this. I’ve seen drugged kittens, cats buried alive, cats sealed into closets for so long they’ve gone crazy, abused dogs, abused horses, and many, many horrible things. Often the videos originate in places like China or Korea or Southeast Asia. I’ve even seen them shared on the Dodo, which was unbelievable. I try to report them but You Tube doesn’t seem too interested.
The Dodo has become such a clickbait one, with so much fake stuff and organized videos (how come so many people happen to film instead of rescuing??), and now the "producers" make videos themselves so.. Very disappointing. Edit: actually one of the latest one, with a skunk, seemed so fake but I couldn't say for sure.
You're bold for thinking TH-cam would care about a real problem. They have too many "curse words' to demonetize while the app is loaded with fake AI, bots etc. I know the feeling of trying to actually help improve YT through reporting and NOTHING happens. It's so aggravating! YT feels so corporate now but they all do.
@castrinecubique983 right? They barely give consequences to creators doing bad things as long as tbose creators give them money! But will happily demonetize small creators for the most pointless reasons.
@@oddworld954 Riddle too, Destiny I believe etc. Clickbait/AI filled with misinformation is so big in the science channels. I respect Kyle Hill for calling them out and actually getting angry replies from the sketchy channels! It's so big jn science and "education" topics
I hate those fake ai-narrated video. TH-cam is now replete with ai content farms trying to harvest easy views and it’s not just animal rescue videos, it’s science, education, explainer genres as well. As soon as I hear an fake voice I go to the three dots under the vid’s thumbnail and select “do not recommend channel”.
How can you tell if the voice is fake in a video? I rarely have sound on with videos. Always on reduced speed. Everything sounds weird on reduced speed.
@@AlecS-p4b I work with a lot of spoken word audio from home so I'm used to hearing human speech... the cadence, the pacing, intonations, etc.. so I can usually tell. Although, it's definitely getting harder to tell, especially for regular people who don't waste life being chronically online haha.
@@AlecS-p4b said: "How can you tell if the voice is fake in a video? I rarely have sound on with videos. Always on reduced speed. Everything sounds weird on reduced speed." One way is to turn the audio on. Another way is to make sure the audio is at 1X speed. The last method is to listen to it and compare it with the people you have interacted with. If you are not interacting with other people, you probably will never know.
As someone who is involved in wildlife rehabilitation, you have my utmost respect for making this video. One of my personal "favourites" is "oh, hes so tame! No, hes not tame, hes terrified
I was a wildlife rehabber for 40 years, so to add to your statement, they are typically injured or sick, and people will assume "tame". 😊 Thank you for your help with the critters.
I also hate it when people use this in regards to their pets 😢 A lot of pets will accept mishandeling if they are scared - them staying still doesn’t automatically mean they like it
And we still think we are the superior & most intelligent species!!! Considering the fact that Humans are the ONLY Species destroying the very planet we all need to live on pretty much sums it up! 😅😲😥🤮
I love that you're doing this. LOVE IT. There are so many of these animal rescue "feel good" videos on TH-cam, and some of them always ring false for me. Thanks for validating what some said was a "cynical nature" on my part. For me, what's cynical are people who exploit footage of animals in distress in ANY WAY for their own enrichment. It's monetized suffering, masquerading as virtue. Thanks for being a voice of truth and sincerity amid all this.
THANK YOU! I see too many people commenting very naively “how wonderful that you saved this poor kitty!” in comments on videos where the influencer family very obviously placed their well fed family pet in peril to pretend to rescue it from rubble, burying it, and then pulling it out. They get thousands of likes and clicks and shares for this animal cruelty and nobody can do anything about it. Educating people is the only thing that can be done and I’m so grateful that that’s what you’re doing here! ❤
@ Very much so. I love watching animal videos, but seeing animals being abused for the attention economy is making me lose faith in humanity and makes me not want to watch animal videos because the algorithm recommends the fake ones too. Your video gave me hope!
I've reported several videos and channels like this on TH-cam, and they never get removed or demonetized. Thank you for spreading awareness of this problem and educating people on how these animals should actually be treated.
Its a waste of time, they don't care unless the actual owner of the video files a complaint. The opposite is also infuriating, where some of my videos get flagged by their screwed up bots as being claimed by various copyright holders, this includes always my own performed and recorded music that uses scores LONG out of any copyrights, or which were always or not in the public domain, music like "God save the Queen" musoc from 19th century long out of print hymn books, even music from Kevin McLeod's site that STATES all his bits of music can be used anywhere in videos etc for free with just a credit line have been flagged by youtube's dysfunctional system. I contested every one of these and won every one of them but it's an annoying PITA and I wonder if the claimed copyright holders are getting revenue for the 30 DAYS they have to respond to the contested claim!
At this point I'm really starting to question the use of the report function. I've used it on videos where people were eating live(!) animals, which constitutes animal cruelty, but the channels and videos were never removed. What the hell is even the purpose of reporting?
It will likely take a lawsuit to get this under control...there is simply too much money involved for it to stop on it's on. Only YT has the power to control it.
Thank you so much for this video. As one who has a cat sanctuary, the proliferation of videos showing people "helping" animals that are horrifically injured with the faceless voice is infuriating to me because we all know of cases where animals are purposely hurt to make these videos in order to generate dirty income. I've been more mindful about hitting the "dislike" icon more and more after looking for traces of legitimacy. Othertimes if I'm not quite sure, I just tell YT not to suggest those channels -- there are plenty of legitimate organizations and rescuers to support online. Again, thank you for your great work!!
Those turtle videos infuriated me. They were probably regluing the same poor turtles. Thanks for giving OCN a callout. They've saved countless fur seals from an upleasant death.
@@KPassionateI think I've seen it already. :-) Those guys do get nipped from time to time. They're pretty skilled at avoiding it, but with thousands of saves and being surrounded by fur seals, one is going to get a bite in occasionally.
@@KPassionate I must have missed that one. I watch them about every day. I live in South Africa and watch OCN and Side Walk Specials, who are in Cape Town. They do amazing work.
I have no idea if all the videos of the Dodo are legit, but after a while I kept thinking “why is there someone recording this, why is it perfectly in frame, etc.” I had to unfollow.
They aren't. Dodo has been posting fake rescues for years. The ones where the wild animal keeps "Visiting" is almost certainly continued feeding to create content.
@AmeliaEarhart53756 my daughter loves these channels, so this video from the perspective of a professional was really helpful. If I point out the suspicious tendencies I get "aw Dad, you think everything on the internet is fake" 😅
@Jrpyify interesting! I always take everything on the internet with a grain of salt until I can corroborate it. And yes the Dodo posts fake videos as well. In addition their journalism is atrocious
I an an animal lover and have run into this. When you call out one of these scam artists many times a lot of people will pile on and attack you. Saying even if the video is fake it is "well meaning". That could not be further from the truth.
It's not only the rescue videos, but also the 'funny' and 'cute' ones. Often they are pure cruelty and viewers comment how that was the funniest/cutest thing they've ever seen. And: it's not only animals. There are lots of those clips with children and babies too. But usually the clips with baby animals get the most comments. It's very sad, that ppl have disconnected from nature so much. Thank you for speaking out. ❤
Thank you! I love watching guinea pig videos, but I can’t stand when people post about making them swim when it’s common knowledge that’s harmful for your pig. Then the original poster gets thousands of views and comments saying “omg how cute!” when in reality it’s not.
@@lovestumacher *Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.* *TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
Sometimes you can even tell that the animal is afraid of the owner in the video, but I guess the owner can't tell because they have no empathy. It's disgusting.
One type that irks me is when they'll stick prey and predator animals together and act like they're playing and getting along. Like i saw one that was just a cat harassing a baby chick (which is super dangerous since injuries from cats WILL kill birds if not treated by a vet soon after due to the bacteria cats carry) with stock "cute" music playing in the background. Its honesty distrubing
Thanks for making the video, I had so many show up in my recommended that it's apparent that there's a lot of people out there abusing dogs and then one day "rescuing" them for views. I didn't know about that coalition either
There are dozens of videos like this, and I don't understand how so many people are so gullible. It is infuriating to say the least! And even when you try to push back, you have people telling you "Still a cool story!". or "It doesn't matter, why are you being so nasty about it?". Truth no longer matters, people just want to be spoon fed, what they want to hear, on any subject.
It is such a weird thing when people say "why does it matter? It’s still a great story." Like I dunno maybe because people are being duped into making money for some loser on his phone in his mom’s basement all the while spreading dangerous misinformation that is actively harming animals and people?!?! Ugh
I accidentally did this with a turtle video before knowing the truth, a comment mentioned that it was a fresh water turtle & so shouldn't have been released back into the ocean & I replied that clearly it was doing ok & had lived there for quite some time, given the amount of barnacles on it, so didn't seem to be any harm to me to release back into the ocean where it was found. Never occurred to me for a second people would have been gluing barnacles onto shells! I make sure to share that reality now whenever I see it - and I look for it in all videos I watch & dog/cat etc ones in particular I spell out exactly why I am saying it's not real so that hopefully I can help others see through it too, but I think most people have a time when they didn't know better & fell for this stuff
I can't blame people for being gullible, because it just wouldn't occur to most people that someone would be cynical enough to fabricate this. It's such an odd cottage industry. I'm glad people are getting wise to it though
TH-cam will do nothing as long as the videos earn ad revenue - have you heard of the BS done by the creator sssniperwolf and youtube didn’t deplatform her because her channel is profitable.
I was telling my coworker about this yesterday. We have to be very careful with the animal related content that we consume. It's sad that things like this even happen. Thank you for spreading awareness!
Hi KP. The risk of abuse to animals, including pets, for monetary gain via the internet worries me a lot. I usually block animal videos and channels if I don't trust the source. The dodgy narration is usually the giveaway for me - I am sure that I do anthropomorphise animals on occasion, but a sea otter with tears running down its face when reunited with its pups is a bit much. I am subscribed to OCN channel, your channel and a couple of others that I trust implicitly, and I will also watch videos if they are, for example, people filming visitors to their garden. Incidentally, a video appeared in my feed a few weeks ago about a seal rescue - not unusual since I watch OCN's. When I clicked on it, I recognised Naude Dreyer's arm carrying out an OCN rescue, but the video did not have the OCN logo and the seal in the latter part of the video, which was in a sanctuary, was definitely not a Cape Fur Seal, so clearly nothing to do with OCN. It was accompanied by a ridiculous narration, too. I was so cross that OCN footage had been hijacked and I did report it to them. Thank you for your advice on how to spot dodgy videos - I was going on instinct before.
You can also watch Side Walk Specials. They are a rescue organisation in Cape Town and does fantastic work in a township in the area. Also Takis from Greece and Animal rescue from India are above board. I love OCN and has been watching their channel for about 4 years now, since they were using the orange nets! I live in South Africa, so I can vouch for the rescue organisations here.
I usually block them but then again, sometimes I don’t because it’s even more important to spot them and speak out, and tell naive viewers it’s a greedy fake they shouldn’t support. Tough decision.
I have been a donor to Animal Rights for years and I will continue to be. I give direct action and local animal shelters where I see where my donation is used. What I do nor donate to billion dollars medical rackets , the Salavation Army that has 12 board members making millions while collection coins and where the poor cannot even get a donate coat for winter and organization religion that owns billions in real estate and March of Dimes a total racket and did you know the kids selling cookies that behind the cookies and behind them that they own a skyscraper building in NYC.
Monetary gain or even internet attention at all (some post in places where they most likely don't we've get money, like reddit). The amount of people overfeeding their pets because "it's cute when they're fat" and sharing those pets online (there was a case of a rat like that just now on the r/rats subreddit, guy claimed it's a medical condition, but it definitely isn't) is astounding. And don't get me started on those TH-cam kids accounts where they use live animals als props for their videos, endangering those animals and using them as if they're disposable. There's just so many areas on the internet where people abuse and neglect animals for content, it's sickening
I hateee fake animal rescue videos. I hate that the "kindness and feel-good" stories which start out as actual animal recusing becomes another thing people exploit for monetary gain. AND WORSE OF ALL, it's causing the animals harm in the long run. It's so infuriating because the actual animal rescue videos are buried in thousands of these AI garbage money grubbing videos ughh Thank you for spending the awareness. I hope more people realize the fake videos. Bless you ❤
Thank you for exposing videos like this. Unfortunately, many people, including myself wouldn't have realised this story was fake. Thanks for the education on these types of videos
The animal species-switching is sooo bad too! Ive seen videos where people will "rescue" a crocodile, then start switching to videos of alligators or caimens. Entirely different animals all together. The fact that in comments, people cant seem to differentiate crocodiles, alligators, and caimens makes me mad as well. Anyway, great video!
Thank you for doing a video about this. I don't watch 99% of the "rescue" videos because if even one of them is staged, we're giving money to people who put animals in harms way. How many raccoons, squirrels, cats, deer, etc. just happened to be in the middle of a lake or river? Sadly, I see a great many of these videos coming out of places like India where there may be little or no protections for animals. But again, thanks for the video and the SMACC link. Ahimsa, ya'll.
There was a time when a friend sent me an animal rescue video that was perfectly shot and had every piece of the narrative from start to finish. I was very suspicious since I would assume that most rescues would be spontaneous and the footage captured wouldn’t be THAT complete unless it was staged.
@@GenkoNoMiko Yes, agreed. They just happened to have the exact items they need to do that specific rescue. Oh sure... happens all the time. It's too bad, because real rescuers are heroes and it takes away from those true beautiful moments captured for the rest of us to be inspired by. Humans... such bizarre creatures...
So glad to see this being called out.. There are thousands of these so called 'rescue' videos online, and many I have reported for animal cruelty.. What is worrying is, some people are so gullible thinking these are genuine, it's worrying, and their positive comments on how wonderful etc, are just fuelling this cruel craze... Sickens me to my core!
I too have reported but they don't get taken down. I've also left comments saying that they are in fact animal abuse, but so many people react with "can't you just enjoy the wholesome video"
Very good comment! It is totally sickening and extremely disturbing!! The very dark side of the world wide Web. Why You Tube is allowing this beggars belief. They must be benefiting in some way not to shut these cruel scammers down!!
I am so glad someone made a video about this! Faked videos and narrators who misidentify animal species make the common person ignorant through no fault of their own. That is why people like us who know animals need to speak out and call them out.
Part of this is the woeful state of science illiteracy. I saw one of the terrestrial tortoise with barnacles videos and reported it to youtube as animal cruelty. I hate this stuff too.
@@pencildragon1961 I really wish that “animal cruelty” was one of the choices in reporting, and that these would be removed immediately. It should be taken as seriously as spam.
For a while, youtube was flooded with those videos. There was always a large sea turtle in the thumbnail, and then the videos were tortoises or fresh water turtles with crap glued to them. I think they started running out of barnacles or just wanted to add some variety because they started gluing random crap to their shells. I would go through their long list of videos to report them. Different channels started popping up, so maybe some of them were getting closed down, and they had to change the name. I couldn't believe the countless people in the comment sections who were falling for that scam when the turtles in the videos looked nothing like sea turtles or the pictures in the thumbnail. I think those channels were finally taken down.
Thanks for highlighting this disturbing trend. I have noticed what seems like an uptick in the frequency of fake animal rescue videos, and I notice a lot of people commenting and thanking them for what they did. I'm glad someone is doing something to educate the viewing public.
"Watch for a few hours" is a lovely bit of advice. Decades ago I saw a couple of baby otters on the beach. We were amazed at how fearless they were, and utterly adorable. They were quite aware of us (we were only about eight or ten feet away and talking delightedly.) We watched them wiggle around and cuddle with each other for awhile, and when we left, one of them stood up and barked at us as we walked away. It was brain melting cuteness 😂 So yeah, watching for a few hours really doesn't seem like a hardship 😄
It's like the man "lost baby deer" people find. The mother often hides the baby, whose young instincts are pretty much to stay still, so the mother can safely go eat. Then a "helpful" human comes along and takes the baby to "rescue" it. Keeping an eye on it isn't a bad idea, but contact actual rehabbers if you're really concerned.
@@patrickdix772 I still don't know if we did the right thing,saw a baby hedgehog in the middle of the road at night with cars going down it, took it to the side of the road and couldn't find the mother anywhere. Waited a few mins but idk :( gave it to animal rescuers the morning after. I would just feel so guilty if we did the wrong thing and the mother was looking for it
KP, as a wildlife rehabber of over 41 years, I can’t thank you enough for your eloquent. impassioned video. Public education is as important as the rescue and rehab of wildlife. Fake videos are done by greedy people, while some other “rescues” are done by a layperson more concerned about “tooting their horns” about their misplaced heroism than giving an animal what it really needs, not what they wish it needed. The public also needs to stop anthropomorphizing wildlife... Disney did a real disservice to us in that regard. I’m always torn between making a comment to warn folks it’s a fake, and how to find real help before they take action themselves, versus me blocking a fake channel because they put a knot in my stomach. TH-cam’s algorithm finally offered your videos to me and as a daily follower of OCN, I saw your visit to Namibia. You’re the real deal, as are they. I’m now subscribed to you, too. Thank you for speaking out about manipulative fake videos and educating the public! Folks need to know real rescuers/rehabbers are everywhere, we want to help, they need to ask someone professional what to do before doing anything. And they should stop habituating wildlife for fun or profit! Rescue isn’t a hobby, and it can get dangerous (as well as often being illegal). Please, stay well and safe! We need more people like you.
I work professionally with reptiles and amphibians, and the amount of harm, abuse and misinformation I've seen on social media is honestly quite worrying. Don't even get me STARTED on the tortoise/turtle barnacle removal videos that went about for a few months. Horrific. Glad more people have been calling these things out as they've popped up. And if rescuing animals in real life? Leave it to the professionals, you guys. The best thing you can do, is contact the people who work with these animals, and are familiar with their needs and behaviours. Not only can you get injured (or even potentially killed), but you may actively be doing more harm than good for the animals being "rescued", despite good intentions.
The more they get away with it on Social media, the more people get on the scam. The more people doing the scam the more elaborate and horrid a situation they will place animals in to get more views.
this video needs to go viral, way to many naive people promoting and donating to these fake rescues. I've been calling them out for years and here is a couple more things to watch for. When they say things like "we could tell the kitten was in bad shape and needed urgent care" then proceed to film it for several minutes without actually helping. Kittens that run to the rescuer, this would almost never happen with a feral kitten which would do everything it could to run away. It's become a huge problem here on YT.
*Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.* *TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
i’m so glad someone is talking about this. it makes me so sad to see people hurt animals in order to go viral like the people who glue stuff on turtles to “rescue them”
Agreed .... fakes, AI generated, text to speech and more lies tugging at our heart strings all for clicks & views. More users need to listen, view and understand your coverage. By viewing the type of content you're describing, it only enables the "bad actors". Keep up the good work and reveal the truth.
Thank you for bringing this up. Drives me crazy to listen to these “fake” videos. Then to have to watch the inconsistencies in the video as they show pics that don’t even match the story.
Great work and thanks for helping to raise awareness on these subjects especially the important ones like whales and barnacles! The world will forever be grateful for all the selfless work you do. You're brilliance, natural beauty, knowledge, and the true emotion you bring are all unmatched KP. Don't ever stop doing what you do. The world needs more people like you(none can ever replace you) but many, many more like you
Sometimes I’m not sure until halfway through the video when you really notice some things are off, but I saw one recently on the Dodo, of all places (usually they’re pretty good) of a family that supposedly “rescued” a “6 week old puppy” from Craigslist, and made it “deck hand” on their yacht in the San Francisco Bay. People in the comments were profusely thanking these people for “saving” this puppy mill puppy they bought from a breeder on Craigslist - Craigslist allowing people to post pets for sale as long as they pretend that it’s a “rehoming fee.” It made me realize just how gullible most people are. And even the Dodo is on the act. Thanks for these videos.
@@Robespierre-lI Heck, I know what to look for now, and even I can miss several of the details KP pointed out [like the change f animals]. You have to actually be analyzing every detail in the video, looking _for_ manipulation _actively._ Which, let's face it, is _not_ what we're looking to do when we sit down and open YT. Remember, folks: The first and frontline form of protection against being scammed is to _assume you aren't immune to being conned._ You cannot defend yourself when you don't know what vulnerabilities you have and where they are.
I’ve never thought The Dodo was ethically responsible, and emailed them to say so, years ago. Their main thrust is to “foster goodwill towards animals” but they don’t print caveats, ever. They encourage laypeople to do things they’re not qualified to do, they never ever mention that you need federal and state permits to take legal care of federally protected wildlife, they give a platform to puppy mill sales, as well as not warning you may need to be vetted for local licenses and permits even to possess unprotected wild species. They miss the opportunity to educate while they’re fostering their idyllic, Disney-esque “goodwill.” It’s irresponsible, imho. I don’t watch their videos any more, blocked them, the videos they reproduce are often anthropomorphic and irresponsible. They only show happy endings, not what can happen when an amateur does the wrong things. Real rescuers aren’t hobbyists. The Dodo has got a big public platform and a following, and could do a lot better. They don’t seem to think responsibility goes hand in hand with their happy stories. Sad.
Thank you. We really need more guidelines for faked animal videos. I'm especially concerned about videos where they make different species of animals interact. I believe those are a product of experimentation, and that there may be a number of "unfortunate incidents" as a result of that practice. Bookmarked that link.
Most cases of animals of different species that aren't normally symbiotic getting along in the wild tend to end tragically, which makes me really suspicious of those kind of 'animal friends' videos that don't feature domesticated animals with warped instincts. An example I can think of was a clip from a nature documentary where a leopard cuddled with a baby baboon whose mother she had just eaten, because having a baby monkey around confused her maternal instincts. The baby died of exposure while the leopard was sleeping and she straight up forgot about it the next morning. I can only imagine how a fake 'animal rescue' story would frame it as her adopting an orphaned baby baboon that she just happened to find and they both lived happily ever after.
The first question you should always ask on any video on the internet is "Why were they filming?" Immediate red flag if it's somebody walking through an uninteresting woodland then they suddenly turn to find the exact spot where six kittens were hiding in a bush. Additionally if I were to find an injured or lost animal my first instinct wouldn't be to film them for internet clout.
hiya KP. honestly so glad you made a video on this topic - it has been a frustration of mine for some years - especially the AI speech stuff, like you say i follow official pages and channels, to see real rescues - but then the algorithm sees i like that and feeds me fake stuff. its so frustrating. .. these people who make these vids, especially like the one you showed they often have different animals, and not even the same species. trying to explain this sort of thing, like what you have put in this video to my friends who insist on sending me personally "lovely rescues" and i point out its fake and wrong etc, they say oh well i like the story, and the videos cute.... but factually incorrect, it gives people on the street the idea they can just interfere... this infuriates me so much. i cannot stand this world where clicks and likes are the currency, the truth and the safety of the creatures are not thought about at all. KEEP UP THE FANTASTIC WORK KP. you are Brilliant.
Thank you - FINALLY somebody with some credibility calling these videos out! I see the same clips being used over and over in multiple stories, like the grateful deer that brought his family to the back door. Please. Or entire ecosystems changing in one video that’s supposed to be happening in the same area. Or human emotions being projected on to the animal like it was so grateful or heartbroken or confused. And then the empathetic comments from people who are just suckers.
man, as a wildlife carer, thank you for this. I see so many fake videos, and sometimes videos that promote danger towards the animal. I always report them as harmful material, but the way the world is now, no one modding is going to see it as harmful to the animal.
I am so glad someone addressed this issue. I am an avid animal lover and have been noticing so many of such fake videos, fake rescues etc by fake people.
That's because the perpetrators can't speak good English but want to cash in on international audiences. Good rule of thumb: always delete AI generated videos. They're usually created by Chat GTP Bots.
Thank you so much for posting this. Awareness is key, I learned a lot from you. These fake edited videos are bad, and it's shocking to see videos of drugged and abused animals get high ratings for a "rescue." Thank you for providing a way to report this. Are there any other solutions that have come up? Many of us want to do more. There are soooo many fake rescues still out there.
So glad you made this video. I see these stupid things every day. They cut clips and paste them together. I saw a baby otter that was in reality a baby beaver. They drive me crazy and they’re unethical. Humanizing these animals is just crazy. I can see people going up to a baby moose, thinking they’re going to save it only to meet mama. Because people are dumb.
KP, since you mentioned some rescue organizations on the west coast, I’d like to mention the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, FL. I was a volunteer there for 5 years. They rescue, rehab and release marine mammals, sea turtles, manatees and others. The aquarium took a lot of damage from Helene, but has reopened. Their marine mammal rehab facility, however, sustained a lot of damage and won’t be able to be used for rehabs for a long time.
My friend is the veterinarian there! The damage to the facility has been devastating. I am hopeful that funding will give them much needed upgrades. Thank you for supporting them!
I was worried about them, I’ve got a relative who moved there just a few weeks before Helene and knew that aquarium was there, glad to hear they’re recovering.
What would really work is if yt and the other sms actually had someone checking them before they are uploaded. But since staggering amounts of money are involved, that will never happen. Makes me so angry I do scream, into the pillow so no one hears it but me. Thanks KP.
It's sad that we need this sort of video, but I'm glad you made it! Now I have something to link people to when the really crappy videos pop up (where they have just put the animal in a distressing/harmful situation to pretend to "rescue" it). I hate that TH-cam/other social media rewards them.
thank you so very much for doing this. It has gotten really bad. Even the 'a kitten followed me home' type videos make me wonder. Here in Japan there was a guy who 'found' a kitten covered in glue.. rescued it, spent weeks removing the glue etc.. his views went up and up, and people donated a lot, the kitten recovered... his views started dropping... then the kitten died suddenly in some mysterious way.. and not a week later he had 'found' another kitten. I am too scared to look at the channel now. I have most of the Vietnamese animal rescue channels blocked too.
It's disgusting what some people will do for views... when you see one of those videos, please report the channel to the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition linked below. www.smaccoalition.com/report-a-concern
Thank you for injecting some reality into our increasingly fake world. More importantly, thank you for your work with animals in distress. You are an awesome person.
I applaud your efforts in calling out these fake and dangerous videos. I know very little about sea wildlife, but because I grew up in National Parks I am always concerned with all wildlife. One of my pet peeves about Anti-Social Media (that's what I have always called it since the early AOL days 25 plus years ago), is people who put game cameras on trees and then put something in front it to attract wild animals. This is commonly referred to as "Baiting", which is illegal whether you're hunting or taking photos and making videos. These fake videos are another form of that, that is commonly known as "Clickbaiting." The purpose of these fake videos, which typically have sensationalized titles like "You Must be a Genius to correctly answer this 10 or 20 question quiz" that is typically about 3rd to 5th grade level, is to attract people who will watch them beginning to end, and begging people to Like and Subscribe to their channel. They also beg you to sign up for notifications so you can be notified when they post more videos. If you check if the channel is monetized you'll often find that they are. And of course that is the whole point. To make money, giving little regard to who or what is endangered by their actions. Truth is also not a common thing with many of these videos. That is not to say there aren't monetized TH-cam channels that are presenting legit facts about something, as there are quite of few of them. It's the fake news ones I dislike the most. And of course, TH-cam won't do anything about them because they get a large percentage of the money these channels make. (Someone told it's 45%, and while I have not verified that, I certainly would not put it past them to do it.) I don't know for a fact that the website listed below is 100% accurate, but I use it anyway... TH-cam Monetization Checker: ytmonetizationchecker.com/ As I always say, if someone is saying something is true when you know it's a lie, it's almost guaranteed there is money being made somehow.
You are the first one I encounter on youtube that pays attention to this disgusting phenomenon. This needs more attention! I have been blocking all of these channels for a few years now. I block the good with the bad. I take no chances. TH-cam has not put any of these fake videos in my feed for at least 6 months now.
Thank you for posting this video! I will be more careful about who I trust from now on. I have never shared those videos, but I have seen them and feel duped! I try to watch content like you because you are amazing, but unfortunately there are more fakes out there then genuine people like you. Keep up the great work!!! Love your videos!!!
I seriously can’t thank you enough for making this video! ❤️ I see these “animal stories” or “animal rescue” videos all the time that are narrated by AI with the usage of completely different clips. It’s so obviously fake and the amount of people believing them is sad and honestly disappointing.
yeah, a friend of mine recently sent me a video about a "heartwarming" monkey love story. In which a male monkey baby was saved by humans, and then the humans found him a girlfriend, they had monkey babies, and lived happily ever after. She has gullible conspiracy brain, so me telling her the video was fake wouldn't have mattered.. but it was so ridiculous
@@klbriceno1 plus these people get so angry at the messenger when you tell them it’s not only fake but often cruel to the animals. They call us jaded and they act like we’re the problem, not the person abusing an animal for clicks.
@@John_Weiss it’s not only happening on social media, although that’s horrific. It’s been happening in science labs, zoos, and universities. These “enlightened” institutions will order a baby primate for research purposes, then poachers go into primate habitats, kill the mothers, and snatch their babies clinging to their dead mothers bodies, and then these institutions who paid for this to happen pretend to be humanitarians doing research to help them. And many times these sentient beings are kept in tiny enclosures with no enrichment and tortured. But yes, doing it for clicks is also horrific. Who are these people watching this stuff as entertainment?
So nice of you to ask the community not to harass those accounts. I should point out that aside from unfollowing and blocking them, we can also REPORT videos with offending practices.
My partner rescues animals and she says "if they have time to record and post it online its fake, because no real rescues first thought on a animal in distress is record, your first thought is helping the animal not clout." She right if you are recording your not going to properly handle the animal with one hand on your phone, your not prioritising the animals care your hinking about clout, also people who fake these videos for views are the scum of the earth as they often abuse and scare the animal before recording to make it look as bad and scared as it is.
Thank you for your video. I have been waiting for some body to speak up about this issue. I have sadly seen people profit from such videos as to cut a maggot out of a cat using a pocket knife, and the ones where they find cats and dogs with a chain around their necks and a guy comes in and cuts the chain off using an angle grinder, or videos showing cats in a river with a rope around their neck, and this person comes in to save the day. They are using animals for profit and You-tube needs to clamp down on this animal cruelty. For the real people who want to do the right thing by animals then we need to give our support by watching true animal rescues, not those who are using animals for profit.
I might add, if anything good came out of the pandemic, it was being able to watch live streem videos of those floofs, which was how I learned about you and your colleagues! Keep up the great work!
FINALLY someone speaks up about this. I hated calling it out in the comments and getting absolutely *stomped* into the ground by all these “experts” knowing better than me.
I have reported numerous "rescue" channels to TH-cam, especially those from the Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand. The one channel was absolutely so terrible, they used puppies and kittens and put them in all kinds of peril, like at the back of a clearly hand dug hollow and put a snake in there as well. These people are without conscience.
Ja es ganz ganz furchtbar was da passiert mit den Kätzchen. Und wenn man es meldet machen die Tierquäler einfach weiter indem sie einen neuen Kanal aufmachen. Was sind da bloß für Menschen.😡😡
Finally someone calling attention to these videos and accounts.The number of people so easily fooled is alarming.Its obvious in many videos that the animals involved have been intentionally placed in harms way to film a fake rescue for likes and views. I’ll be saving the linked website to report them,since YT doesn’t seem to take reports seriously.😢
Thanks for making this video and educating people on this topic. I have come across a lot of fake animal rescuing videos too and I usually only notice it because of the editing cutting back and forth to different animals like you mentioned. I wished we could tell before clicking on the video though so these people don't get any attention or views.
At least these are largely combinations of rescues compiled together with a false narrative. I'm concerned about groups literally manufacturing rescues for the clicks. "Hey, lets leave these dogs in a dirty pen without food for weeks, and then come and 'rescue them'". THAT is what I'm worried about. Ah, you cover that here... 7:00
I saw one where these puppies were in hot tar and stuck to the road screaming in pain. It said they “rested on the tar for warmth, but the sun came up and heated the tar to dangerous temperatures, trapping them” so of course, I call bulls***. If the sun was hot enough to cause the tar to reach that level, why would the puppies be seeking warmth? They basically ripped those poor puppies off the tar and acted like hero’s. I wanted to reach into the screen and throttle the “rescuers”.
Hi KP! I live in Montana - near Yellowstone National Park. A favorite sow grizzly bear (ear tag #399) was recently hit by a car and killed. She was 28 years old- and several years ago raised 4 cubs. My issue is with the outpouring of social media posts proclaiming her to be sweet (she attacked a human once) and so many other human traits. She was a wild animal. Why do humans feel the need to anthropomorphize animals?
This is a really valid question. Anthropomorphism can absolutely be incredibly harmful especially on the levels you are describing. But there is some good to it. Anthropomorphism allows us to connect with the world around us. So I think instead of trying to cut it out entirely (even I can’t do that and I have a career in the field!) we should strive to recognize and acknowledge when we or others are doing it.
Are animals void of emotions?? Often it's not anthropomorphizing, it's observation. I am not saying we are the same, we certainly aren't. But do not deny animals emotions because they have incredibly rich emotionals lives. Calling it anthropomorphizing may be a sign of putting yourself into a superior position above the animal.
Of course animals have emotions, but these can be challenging to define and are often misinterpreted. This is one reason we try not to anthropomorphize animals, because "it can lead to an inaccurate understanding of biological processes in the natural world. It can also lead to inappropriate behaviors towards wild animals such as adopting a wild animal as a ‘pet’ or misinterpreting the actions of a wild animal." [1] www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/15/anthropomorphism-danger-humans-animals-science A great example is the orcas who are attacking boats in Spain and Portugal. In my opinion, a lot of people WANT the orcas to be out for revenge because they are projecting their own feelings onto the whales. Whether they think the orcas are mad about overfishing, global warming, SeaWorld, the rich, or whatever. But the vast majority of marine biologists agree... the orcas are simply playing. [2] www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-attacking-boats-are-actually-just-bored-teenagers-having-fun-experts-say
I just recently came across videos regarding fake rescue groups and how to spot fake rescues on TH-cam. I just came across yours. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EDUCATING ME!!! I am a hardcore animal lover...in fact, I prefer animals over people most of the time. Anyway, I'm so glad for your guidance and now rarely click on any animal videos unless they are by groups like Soi Dog Foundation, Sheldrick Trust, HERD, Wild Animal Sanctuary, Geobeats, or the Dodo. Thank you again❤
Thank you for speaking out! To add to this: Faked videos don't always have to be putting an animal in danger and "saving it", they can also show footage in reverse order. As in - they film a healthy animal, which they then harm in some way, but they act as if they found it hurt and then helped it recover. So it's very possible that the animal was crippled or died after all. Animals also do not cry tears out of sadness or happiness - if they cry a lot, it's for medical reasons. Stay vigilant!
Thank you for spreading awareness. This is ever so important in a world where misinformation and fake news are becoming ubiquitous. It really made me question how many of those "rescue" videos i had watched were genuine.😑 will be extra skeptical and alert from now on.. keep up the good work👍🏻and to HELL with all scammers and animal abusers
Thanks for this. I always question the cat and dog rescued videos by these people that claim to be animal lovers but they seem so staged and that upsets me that they are doing this to animals and making a living off the animals expenses.
Yeah, I block a lot of those. I've heard some channels will abandon a dog out there for a few days and come back. If someone accidentally finds a pup, that's one thing. You can sort of tell that it's real, but people that so it for clicks something feels off.
I've seen countless videos for animal rescue and many of them use different shots from different animals to convey a story. Thanks for the video and for spreading factual good information!
The one that boiled my blood was a Brazilian who claimed he rescued sea turtles that couldn’t swim because they were almost completely covered with barnacles. But, if you paid any real attention to the video you will see that every single video showed different species of RIVER turtles. Then you see him removing the barnacles using a razor blade and a pair of pliers. In some cases the barnacles seem to fall off with little to no effort. You can tell he used some sort of CA glue to adhere the hollow/dead barnacles to the shells. Worst of all was his release. He would always take these RIVER turtles to an ocean beach and let them go, but they often turned around away from the saltwater. I really felt bad for the turtles and angry at the guy and at the idiots who kept “blessing him for doing God’s work”. It was infuriating. People absolutely did not want to reason about it. Some got very mad and said I was disrespecting his work and discouraging him. A few of us kept reporting his videos until TH-cam finally took down his account. But it took some doing.
Thank you for sharing… I have always called out these “animal rescue” fake and disgusting videos. I also report to TH-cam. The best thing is to go to their channel and see what other videos they have posted. You can see exactly most are scammers abusing animals. You can identify the true rescue channels. Did not know about reporting to the link you gave….thank you!!
Thank you for making this video, those clickbaits are maddening! I volunteered for 2 weeks for the ARCAS rescue centre in Guatemala and can highly recommend them as a great organisation to contribute to 👌
Thank you 🙏 it's heartbreaking to see fake animal rescues...there's been a few times were I tried reporting them, but TH-cam doesn't seem to really care...so thank for sharing the link ❤
*Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.* *TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
Thank you for this, I always find these kinds of videos suspicious if I can tell there isn't continuity, so glad you're educating people on that. Also you have no idea how happy I am about the fact that you can tell the difference between a sea and river otter even as pups
First of your videos ive ever seen and right of the bat i already have huge respect for you. These rescuing videos are so frustrating to come across especally since i am a student finishing up my education in animal wellfare and husbandry and thus work with animals regurarly. Thank you for spreading awareness 🙏💙
If you have a concern that an animal rescue video is staged, and that animals are intentionally being placed in harmful situations so that they can be "rescued," I strongly recommend reporting the channel to the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition linked here: www.smaccoalition.com/report-a-concern
Thank you for posting the link, KP!
And I'll add, once again, a recommendation for people who want to report such videos to TH-cam to please watch the 2-part tutorial by "The Monkey Sentinel." He explains how to report _in a way that gets a human's attention,_ since most reports are filtered by an Algorithm.
@@KPassionate thank you. I will share this with my other social media groups as well. Offering a possible solution is great. Awareness only gets us all so far. I wish that TH-cam and other platforms would have an “animal abuse” choice in their reporting mechanism.
@@John_Weiss thank you!
@@goodgrief888 I have reported dozens of these videos on YT.
Every time the reply is 'does not breach our community guidelines'.
@@Renegade1127 Yes, and it’s one of the many reasons social media is broken. The people behind the scenes are actively contributing to animal torture and are too self absorbed to fix their easily fixed platforms. A friend on Facebook witnessed a truly horrific video of a kitten being murdered violently, and he spent years trying to get it taken down. But it was still there last I checked despite how many people reported it.
Quick way to spot fakes: they usually talk about “a man” or “a woman,” no specific names or places. If the narrator has no idea who’s in the video, it’s almost certainly a fake. Thank you for calling these out; I’m getting a TON of these in my feed recently.
Yes! This!
The fake rescue is staged in dangerous places, usually in a tropical area. With no after care for the suffering animals.
My name is a kid
I like how animals change from one species to another and then back again like nobody will notice......lol....I watched one the other day in which a squirrel kept changing to a chipmunk......and then back again......
There was a video about a Russian guy rescuing a wolf pup. How he was walking down the road and found it by a tree. The actual guy who rescued the wolf pup commented on the fake video with the facts. He runs a wolf sanctuary in Russia.
There are way too many of these AI-narrated animal videos with changing species, Disney-fication, giving animals human emotions etc... They're mass-produced click-bait crap. Thanks for helping to educate ✌🏻
They drive me nuts!
We need to report those channels.
@@KPassionateyou’re not alone there. It happens on all topics you can imagine.
@@daniellamcgee4251 Sadly, youtube doesn't care. I've reported channels that were clearly bought or hacked and repurposed for posting clickbait animal videos (sometimes these cobbled together messes, sometimes clearly people putting animals in danger to "rescue" them) and they stay up no matter how many times I report them. The only time I've heard of youtube even commenting about it was after a sustained and loud public shaming by someone with enough of a platform to get their attention even for a second, and youtube STILL did nothing.
@@daniellamcgee4251 Problem is, they reproduce like hell. One chanel down, next two up. It's so sick
another thing is the anthropomorphizing in the fake videos. “she panicking was looking around for something” “she cried tears of joy” animals emote WAYYY differently than humans, and actual animal rescuers know that
100% agreed. I've been thinking about doing a video on how harmful anthropomorphism is for a while now.
@@KPassionatei’d be really interested to watch it! no pressure though
it seem narcissistic
Especially when their facial expressions may be the exact opposed of humans' ones, like apes smiling in anger or hyenas laughing in distress
@@jambon2730 That makes me think of all those "I showed this [insert primate] a magic trick" videos, where someone does a simple sleight of hand trick outside a primate enclosure, and the animal reacts with "astonishment". I'm no animal behaviour expert, but I'm pretty sure the reaction is just an aggressive response when the person looks them in the eye and smiles excitedly after completing the trick. It probably didn't even follow or comprehend the trick.
That particular AI voice is a clue that the thing is fake. Also, phrases like "the cat came to the man...," or "the girl saw the bird, the bird called to the girl..." etc. Thanks for this. I've gotten really turned off by these and I'm glad you're exposing them.
Not to mention the ones where they draw tears on the animals ... PLEASE!!!!
To be fair, animals calling for help isn't unheard of, at least if those animals have regular contact with humans. There is a hilarious story about how a mother elephant who called for her caretakers to see her child because she couldn't wake him up, turns out the little elephant was just in a deep sleep and there was not wrong with him, but it certainly worried the mom enough to call for help.
The man. He graciously turned down a name when he was born, choosing only to be known as “The man”, together with his daughter, The Girl.
Also, ascribing emotions and characteristics that aren’t consistent with the animal’s real behavior. Like “the baby monkey was crying” they don’t cry. Or like, “the dog thanked the lady who saved him” although a dog can show gratitude through body language, usually when a dog escapes a scary situation, it’s just gonna run for safety. They don’t “thank” people.
@@tricivenola8164 .... EXACTLY!! 👍
I have been getting very friendly with the "Do Not Recommend Channel" button because of this and am glad other people have noticed it. The odious voice is a dead give-away, is also a clue.
the channel blocker extension works much better
YouBoob and FacialEXpressionBook need to add a few "buttons" . but it would interupt the "kash flow".
Unfortunately, no matter how many times I press "Don't recommend channel" - there will always be another channel doing the same kind of content that I don't like, getting recommended to me. But it's nice to not see certain channels recommended again.
Report first as misleading then block/do not recommend. If everyone did this the channels would die.
@@eglol just stick with it and evebtually your feed will be cleaned up, lol. It took a long time, but I made it a point to block any channel that featured a Joe Rogen clip. I probably blocked a good 100 channels haha, but they seem to finally be gone from my youtube shorts scrolling. There's a lot of clones trying to prpfot off the same virality, but I assure you, its not infinite. Dont let them defeat you, lol
I'm honestly very glad someone as connected to otters was able to debunk this weird ai video. I remember watching it and having it get on my nerves with how many different baby otters it showed, it just makes me uneasy. Good on you you took time to set the records straight!
Yes! Thank you. The fake dog / cat rescues are just crazy horrible. Let alone the fake sea turtle rescues.
I can’t even believe these things exist! How can anyone be so awful?!?!
@@KPassionate I only learned how sensitive turtle shells are when I watched a video like this of an expert calling out a "rescuer" who was ripping barnacles off turtles with a pair of pliers or similar. It's so distressing to see when you know how much it hurts the poor animal.
It also awakened an interest in herpetology, when I had been strictly a bird and mammal gal before. :)
@corvidsRcool it is so wild how they can feel everything on their shell! It is so counterintuitive.
@@corvidsRcoolI have only learned this today - more dodgy videos to look out for and block
@@corvidsRcool Was it DanTheTurtleMan? He's very knowledgeable about turtles, and he has a lot of pet turtles as well. He's a very great guy.
This video is a real eye-opener. The idea of animals being deliberately harmed in order to make a heartstring-tugging video is just repulsive.
*Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.*
*TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
Thanks capitalism!
Lol
@@MasterLPG Thank you for this information. ❤
Has happened before, there was a youtube channel made up of children helping dogs who were caught in black tartar!!! Imagine those poor animals
The channel was reported and closed down but I bet there are way more that just haven't gotten the attention
I'm so sick of seeing these staged animal rescue videos having millions of views! Thanks for your video!
This phenomenon infuriates me. Especially those suspect cat and dog rescue vids where it seems apparent that the guy filming the animals has just abused/ tortured that animal. The rescuer never shows their voice or face either.
It's so awful. And yeah, if they don't show their face or voice and tell you who they are, that's usually a huge red flag.
Yea, i saw one where the cat’s front legs were completely sticking in the wrong direction, like someone had dislocated them on purpose
@@ash1eyroseDid you report it on/to TH-cam?
Huh, I don't remember seeing any videos where you can't see the rescuer's face, I guess that would be something to look out for.
@@conlon4332 They are frequently, in my experience, as if found on a road, so someone gets out with their mobile phone so you don't see them. Sadly, yes they are around if you let YT algorithm catch on you like animals quite a bit in fact, then they come up as suggestions alongside the genuine ones. I wish there were some way to tell You Tube, we need a policy around animal cruelty.
Thank you for posting this. I’ve seen drugged kittens, cats buried alive, cats sealed into closets for so long they’ve gone crazy, abused dogs, abused horses, and many, many horrible things. Often the videos originate in places like China or Korea or Southeast Asia. I’ve even seen them shared on the Dodo, which was unbelievable. I try to report them but You Tube doesn’t seem too interested.
The Dodo has become such a clickbait one, with so much fake stuff and organized videos (how come so many people happen to film instead of rescuing??), and now the "producers" make videos themselves so.. Very disappointing.
Edit: actually one of the latest one, with a skunk, seemed so fake but I couldn't say for sure.
TH-cam knows and cares more about the money
You're bold for thinking TH-cam would care about a real problem. They have too many "curse words' to demonetize while the app is loaded with fake AI, bots etc.
I know the feeling of trying to actually help improve YT through reporting and NOTHING happens. It's so aggravating! YT feels so corporate now but they all do.
@castrinecubique983 right? They barely give consequences to creators doing bad things as long as tbose creators give them money!
But will happily demonetize small creators for the most pointless reasons.
@@oddworld954 Riddle too, Destiny I believe etc. Clickbait/AI filled with misinformation is so big in the science channels. I respect Kyle Hill for calling them out and actually getting angry replies from the sketchy channels! It's so big jn science and "education" topics
this is comforting and refreshing to hear, honestly for a while, i thought no one on the internet care about what's real anymore
I hate those fake ai-narrated video. TH-cam is now replete with ai content farms trying to harvest easy views and it’s not just animal rescue videos, it’s science, education, explainer genres as well. As soon as I hear an fake voice I go to the three dots under the vid’s thumbnail and select “do not recommend channel”.
Thanks for pointing out the banning option: I’ll be using it from now on.
How can you tell if the voice is fake in a video? I rarely have sound on with videos. Always on reduced speed. Everything sounds weird on reduced speed.
@@AlecS-p4b I work with a lot of spoken word audio from home so I'm used to hearing human speech... the cadence, the pacing, intonations, etc.. so I can usually tell. Although, it's definitely getting harder to tell, especially for regular people who don't waste life being chronically online haha.
Agree, the fake AI-narration is always the obvious clue to ban, sad utube seems to promote.
@@AlecS-p4b said: "How can you tell if the voice is fake in a video? I rarely have sound on with videos. Always on reduced speed. Everything sounds weird on reduced speed."
One way is to turn the audio on. Another way is to make sure the audio is at 1X speed. The last method is to listen to it and compare it with the people you have interacted with. If you are not interacting with other people, you probably will never know.
As someone who is involved in wildlife rehabilitation, you have my utmost respect for making this video. One of my personal "favourites" is "oh, hes so tame! No, hes not tame, hes terrified
I am so glad you said this. May I recommend you add multiple exclamation points at the end? I think your message deserves them. 😉
I was a wildlife rehabber for 40 years, so to add to your statement, they are typically injured or sick, and people will assume "tame". 😊 Thank you for your help with the critters.
I also hate it when people use this in regards to their pets 😢
A lot of pets will accept mishandeling if they are scared - them staying still doesn’t automatically mean they like it
And we still think we are the superior & most intelligent species!!!
Considering the fact that Humans are the ONLY Species destroying the very planet we all need to live on pretty much sums it up! 😅😲😥🤮
It is amazing how ignorant some youtubers are of the danger they put themselves in with wild animals as well.
I love that you're doing this. LOVE IT. There are so many of these animal rescue "feel good" videos on TH-cam, and some of them always ring false for me. Thanks for validating what some said was a "cynical nature" on my part. For me, what's cynical are people who exploit footage of animals in distress in ANY WAY for their own enrichment. It's monetized suffering, masquerading as virtue. Thanks for being a voice of truth and sincerity amid all this.
THANK YOU! I see too many people commenting very naively “how wonderful that you saved this poor kitty!” in comments on videos where the influencer family very obviously placed their well fed family pet in peril to pretend to rescue it from rubble, burying it, and then pulling it out. They get thousands of likes and clicks and shares for this animal cruelty and nobody can do anything about it. Educating people is the only thing that can be done and I’m so grateful that that’s what you’re doing here! ❤
I’m glad you appreciate the video! These trends are getting out of hand.
@ Very much so. I love watching animal videos, but seeing animals being abused for the attention economy is making me lose faith in humanity and makes me not want to watch animal videos because the algorithm recommends the fake ones too. Your video gave me hope!
You could try reporting the fake ones to TH-cam. Now I have been educated by this video, that is what I am going to do.
@@goodgrief888 God that makes me sick
Anything for likes and subscribers?! People really need to respect animal rights!
I've reported several videos and channels like this on TH-cam, and they never get removed or demonetized. Thank you for spreading awareness of this problem and educating people on how these animals should actually be treated.
That's true. YT earn to much money from them.
Its a waste of time, they don't care unless the actual owner of the video files a complaint.
The opposite is also infuriating, where some of my videos get flagged by their screwed up bots as being claimed by various copyright holders, this includes always my own performed and recorded music that uses scores LONG out of any copyrights, or which were always or not in the public domain, music like "God save the Queen" musoc from 19th century long out of print hymn books, even music from Kevin McLeod's site that STATES all his bits of music can be used anywhere in videos etc for free with just a credit line have been flagged by youtube's dysfunctional system.
I contested every one of these and won every one of them but it's an annoying PITA and I wonder if the claimed copyright holders are getting revenue for the 30 DAYS they have to respond to the contested claim!
At this point I'm really starting to question the use of the report function. I've used it on videos where people were eating live(!) animals, which constitutes animal cruelty, but the channels and videos were never removed. What the hell is even the purpose of reporting?
It will likely take a lawsuit to get this under control...there is simply too much money involved for it to stop on it's on. Only YT has the power to control it.
As long as theres no blood or F-bombs, youtube doesn't give a shit.
Thank you so much for this video. As one who has a cat sanctuary, the proliferation of videos showing people "helping" animals that are horrifically injured with the faceless voice is infuriating to me because we all know of cases where animals are purposely hurt to make these videos in order to generate dirty income. I've been more mindful about hitting the "dislike" icon more and more after looking for traces of legitimacy. Othertimes if I'm not quite sure, I just tell YT not to suggest those channels -- there are plenty of legitimate organizations and rescuers to support online. Again, thank you for your great work!!
Those turtle videos infuriated me. They were probably regluing the same poor turtles.
Thanks for giving OCN a callout. They've saved countless fur seals from an upleasant death.
I love them! We did a recent video with Naude about a rabies outbreak in the seal colony. Check it out!
@@KPassionateI think I've seen it already. :-) Those guys do get nipped from time to time. They're pretty skilled at avoiding it, but with thousands of saves and being surrounded by fur seals, one is going to get a bite in occasionally.
@@KPassionate I must have missed that one. I watch them about every day. I live in South Africa and watch OCN and Side Walk Specials, who are in Cape Town. They do amazing work.
I have no idea if all the videos of the Dodo are legit, but after a while I kept thinking “why is there someone recording this, why is it perfectly in frame, etc.” I had to unfollow.
They aren't. Dodo has been posting fake rescues for years.
The ones where the wild animal keeps "Visiting" is almost certainly continued feeding to create content.
To be fair, the Dodo is the only channel I vaguely trust in this type of video.
That's how I was with the We Love Animals channel. I thought it was so nice, but then I began noticing that everything just looked fake.
@AmeliaEarhart53756 my daughter loves these channels, so this video from the perspective of a professional was really helpful. If I point out the suspicious tendencies I get "aw Dad, you think everything on the internet is fake" 😅
@Jrpyify interesting! I always take everything on the internet with a grain of salt until I can corroborate it. And yes the Dodo posts fake videos as well. In addition their journalism is atrocious
Some of these are so obvious. I didn't know people are intentionally hurting animals for rescue videos. Thanks for bringing this to light.
I an an animal lover and have run into this. When you call out one of these scam artists many times a lot of people will pile on and attack you. Saying even if the video is fake it is "well meaning". That could not be further from the truth.
It's not only the rescue videos, but also the 'funny' and 'cute' ones. Often they are pure cruelty and viewers comment how that was the funniest/cutest thing they've ever seen. And: it's not only animals. There are lots of those clips with children and babies too.
But usually the clips with baby animals get the most comments. It's very sad, that ppl have disconnected from nature so much. Thank you for speaking out. ❤
Thank you! I love watching guinea pig videos, but I can’t stand when people post about making them swim when it’s common knowledge that’s harmful for your pig. Then the original poster gets thousands of views and comments saying “omg how cute!” when in reality it’s not.
It's not just a disconnect from nature, it's also poor education and inexperience with animal husbandry/pet-owning sadly. :(
@@lovestumacher *Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.*
*TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
Sometimes you can even tell that the animal is afraid of the owner in the video, but I guess the owner can't tell because they have no empathy. It's disgusting.
One type that irks me is when they'll stick prey and predator animals together and act like they're playing and getting along. Like i saw one that was just a cat harassing a baby chick (which is super dangerous since injuries from cats WILL kill birds if not treated by a vet soon after due to the bacteria cats carry) with stock "cute" music playing in the background. Its honesty distrubing
Thanks for making the video, I had so many show up in my recommended that it's apparent that there's a lot of people out there abusing dogs and then one day "rescuing" them for views. I didn't know about that coalition either
There are dozens of videos like this, and I don't understand how so many people are so gullible. It is infuriating to say the least! And even when you try to push back, you have people telling you "Still a cool story!". or "It doesn't matter, why are you being so nasty about it?". Truth no longer matters, people just want to be spoon fed, what they want to hear, on any subject.
It is such a weird thing when people say "why does it matter? It’s still a great story." Like I dunno maybe because people are being duped into making money for some loser on his phone in his mom’s basement all the while spreading dangerous misinformation that is actively harming animals and people?!?! Ugh
My theory is, there are a ton of fake views also, to boost the algorithm.
You don't understand how so many people are gullible? Look who just got elected president of the U.S.
I accidentally did this with a turtle video before knowing the truth, a comment mentioned that it was a fresh water turtle & so shouldn't have been released back into the ocean & I replied that clearly it was doing ok & had lived there for quite some time, given the amount of barnacles on it, so didn't seem to be any harm to me to release back into the ocean where it was found. Never occurred to me for a second people would have been gluing barnacles onto shells! I make sure to share that reality now whenever I see it - and I look for it in all videos I watch & dog/cat etc ones in particular I spell out exactly why I am saying it's not real so that hopefully I can help others see through it too, but I think most people have a time when they didn't know better & fell for this stuff
I can't blame people for being gullible, because it just wouldn't occur to most people that someone would be cynical enough to fabricate this. It's such an odd cottage industry. I'm glad people are getting wise to it though
2:26 As long as they mark their videos as "For entertainment purposes only", then youtube will do nothing!
good point!
youtube basically condones this behaviour
@bilalsalameh440 Yeah TH-cam itself encourages these types of videos because they're easy to mass produce
TH-cam will do nothing as long as the videos earn ad revenue - have you heard of the BS done by the creator sssniperwolf and youtube didn’t deplatform her because her channel is profitable.
I'm SO SICK of AI narration, instantly block
I was telling my coworker about this yesterday. We have to be very careful with the animal related content that we consume. It's sad that things like this even happen. Thank you for spreading awareness!
YOU HAVE JUST PROVIDED A VERY IMPORTANT & NECCESSARY PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Hi KP. The risk of abuse to animals, including pets, for monetary gain via the internet worries me a lot. I usually block animal videos and channels if I don't trust the source. The dodgy narration is usually the giveaway for me - I am sure that I do anthropomorphise animals on occasion, but a sea otter with tears running down its face when reunited with its pups is a bit much.
I am subscribed to OCN channel, your channel and a couple of others that I trust implicitly, and I will also watch videos if they are, for example, people filming visitors to their garden. Incidentally, a video appeared in my feed a few weeks ago about a seal rescue - not unusual since I watch OCN's. When I clicked on it, I recognised Naude Dreyer's arm carrying out an OCN rescue, but the video did not have the OCN logo and the seal in the latter part of the video, which was in a sanctuary, was definitely not a Cape Fur Seal, so clearly nothing to do with OCN. It was accompanied by a ridiculous narration, too. I was so cross that OCN footage had been hijacked and I did report it to them.
Thank you for your advice on how to spot dodgy videos - I was going on instinct before.
It is so gross for channels to take advantage of actual rescuers and their fans this way! Glad you can spot the fakes.
You can also watch Side Walk Specials. They are a rescue organisation in Cape Town and does fantastic work in a township in the area. Also Takis from Greece and Animal rescue from India are above board. I love OCN and has been watching their channel for about 4 years now, since they were using the orange nets! I live in South Africa, so I can vouch for the rescue organisations here.
I usually block them but then again, sometimes I don’t because it’s even more important to spot them and speak out, and tell naive viewers it’s a greedy fake they shouldn’t support. Tough decision.
I have been a donor to Animal Rights for years and I will continue to be. I give direct action and local animal shelters where I see where my donation is used. What I do nor donate to billion dollars medical rackets , the Salavation Army that has 12 board members making millions while collection coins and where the poor cannot even get a donate coat for winter and organization religion that owns billions in real estate and March of Dimes a total racket and did you know the kids selling cookies that behind the cookies and behind them that they own a skyscraper building in NYC.
Monetary gain or even internet attention at all (some post in places where they most likely don't we've get money, like reddit). The amount of people overfeeding their pets because "it's cute when they're fat" and sharing those pets online (there was a case of a rat like that just now on the r/rats subreddit, guy claimed it's a medical condition, but it definitely isn't) is astounding. And don't get me started on those TH-cam kids accounts where they use live animals als props for their videos, endangering those animals and using them as if they're disposable. There's just so many areas on the internet where people abuse and neglect animals for content, it's sickening
I hateee fake animal rescue videos.
I hate that the "kindness and feel-good" stories which start out as actual animal recusing becomes another thing people exploit for monetary gain. AND WORSE OF ALL, it's causing the animals harm in the long run. It's so infuriating because the actual animal rescue videos are buried in thousands of these AI garbage money grubbing videos ughh
Thank you for spending the awareness. I hope more people realize the fake videos.
Bless you ❤
"Stop doing weird shit." ~ KP
Good advice in general!
Hahaha honestly!
Thank you for exposing videos like this. Unfortunately, many people, including myself wouldn't have realised this story was fake. Thanks for the education on these types of videos
They can be easy to believe until you know what to look for!
To be honest this story with the seal i would also not recognise as fake.😢
The animal species-switching is sooo bad too! Ive seen videos where people will "rescue" a crocodile, then start switching to videos of alligators or caimens. Entirely different animals all together. The fact that in comments, people cant seem to differentiate crocodiles, alligators, and caimens makes me mad as well. Anyway, great video!
I would imagine AI has something to do with this.....
Thank you for doing a video about this. I don't watch 99% of the "rescue" videos because if even one of them is staged, we're giving money to people who put animals in harms way. How many raccoons, squirrels, cats, deer, etc. just happened to be in the middle of a lake or river? Sadly, I see a great many of these videos coming out of places like India where there may be little or no protections for animals. But again, thanks for the video and the SMACC link. Ahimsa, ya'll.
There was a time when a friend sent me an animal rescue video that was perfectly shot and had every piece of the narrative from start to finish. I was very suspicious since I would assume that most rescues would be spontaneous and the footage captured wouldn’t be THAT complete unless it was staged.
@@GenkoNoMiko Yes, agreed. They just happened to have the exact items they need to do that specific rescue. Oh sure... happens all the time. It's too bad, because real rescuers are heroes and it takes away from those true beautiful moments captured for the rest of us to be inspired by. Humans... such bizarre creatures...
I got so scared when I saw my name at the end lol
So glad to see this being called out.. There are thousands of these so called 'rescue' videos online, and many I have reported for animal cruelty.. What is worrying is, some people are so gullible thinking these are genuine, it's worrying, and their positive comments on how wonderful etc, are just fuelling this cruel craze... Sickens me to my core!
yeah reading through the comments on these videos, it's shocking to me how many people fall for this.
I saw that sea otter and thought it was fake. Even the bit that wasnt.
I too have reported but they don't get taken down. I've also left comments saying that they are in fact animal abuse, but so many people react with "can't you just enjoy the wholesome video"
@ I know. People are taken it with the awww factor, not even aware of the suffering of the animals.
Very good comment! It is totally sickening and extremely disturbing!! The very dark side of the world wide Web. Why You Tube is allowing this beggars belief. They must be benefiting in some way not to shut these cruel scammers down!!
1:42 clickbait content farmers are apparently unfamiliar with the concept of corporate design lol
I am so glad someone made a video about this!
Faked videos and narrators who misidentify animal species make the common person ignorant through no fault of their own. That is why people like us who know animals need to speak out and call them out.
Part of this is the woeful state of science illiteracy. I saw one of the terrestrial tortoise with barnacles videos and reported it to youtube as animal cruelty.
I hate this stuff too.
Thank you for reporting! That stuff is so disgusting and dangerous.
@@pencildragon1961 I really wish that “animal cruelty” was one of the choices in reporting, and that these would be removed immediately. It should be taken as seriously as spam.
For a while, youtube was flooded with those videos.
There was always a large sea turtle in the thumbnail, and then the videos were tortoises or fresh water turtles with crap glued to them. I think they started running out of barnacles or just wanted to add some variety because they started gluing random crap to their shells.
I would go through their long list of videos to report them. Different channels started popping up, so maybe some of them were getting closed down, and they had to change the name.
I couldn't believe the countless people in the comment sections who were falling for that scam when the turtles in the videos looked nothing like sea turtles or the pictures in the thumbnail.
I think those channels were finally taken down.
@@goodgrief888 There is, but it's hidden under "Violent or repulsive content" *_if_* you report through a webbrowser.
@@John_Weiss Yep, and it's only an option on the specific video. There's no option to report the user in general for posting these things.
Thanks for highlighting this disturbing trend. I have noticed what seems like an uptick in the frequency of fake animal rescue videos, and I notice a lot of people commenting and thanking them for what they did. I'm glad someone is doing something to educate the viewing public.
"Watch for a few hours" is a lovely bit of advice. Decades ago I saw a couple of baby otters on the beach. We were amazed at how fearless they were, and utterly adorable. They were quite aware of us (we were only about eight or ten feet away and talking delightedly.) We watched them wiggle around and cuddle with each other for awhile, and when we left, one of them stood up and barked at us as we walked away. It was brain melting cuteness 😂
So yeah, watching for a few hours really doesn't seem like a hardship 😄
It's like the man "lost baby deer" people find. The mother often hides the baby, whose young instincts are pretty much to stay still, so the mother can safely go eat. Then a "helpful" human comes along and takes the baby to "rescue" it. Keeping an eye on it isn't a bad idea, but contact actual rehabbers if you're really concerned.
@@patrickdix772 I still don't know if we did the right thing,saw a baby hedgehog in the middle of the road at night with cars going down it, took it to the side of the road and couldn't find the mother anywhere. Waited a few mins but idk :( gave it to animal rescuers the morning after. I would just feel so guilty if we did the wrong thing and the mother was looking for it
KP, as a wildlife rehabber of over 41 years, I can’t thank you enough for your eloquent. impassioned video. Public education is as important as the rescue and rehab of wildlife. Fake videos are done by greedy people, while some other “rescues” are done by a layperson more concerned about “tooting their horns” about their misplaced heroism than giving an animal what it really needs, not what they wish it needed. The public also needs to stop anthropomorphizing wildlife... Disney did a real disservice to us in that regard. I’m always torn between making a comment to warn folks it’s a fake, and how to find real help before they take action themselves, versus me blocking a fake channel because they put a knot in my stomach. TH-cam’s algorithm finally offered your videos to me and as a daily follower of OCN, I saw your visit to Namibia. You’re the real deal, as are they. I’m now subscribed to you, too.
Thank you for speaking out about manipulative fake videos and educating the public! Folks need to know real rescuers/rehabbers are everywhere, we want to help, they need to ask someone professional what to do before doing anything. And they should stop habituating wildlife for fun or profit! Rescue isn’t a hobby, and it can get dangerous (as well as often being illegal). Please, stay well and safe! We need more people like you.
I work professionally with reptiles and amphibians, and the amount of harm, abuse and misinformation I've seen on social media is honestly quite worrying. Don't even get me STARTED on the tortoise/turtle barnacle removal videos that went about for a few months. Horrific. Glad more people have been calling these things out as they've popped up.
And if rescuing animals in real life? Leave it to the professionals, you guys. The best thing you can do, is contact the people who work with these animals, and are familiar with their needs and behaviours. Not only can you get injured (or even potentially killed), but you may actively be doing more harm than good for the animals being "rescued", despite good intentions.
The more they get away with it on Social media, the more people get on the scam. The more people doing the scam the more elaborate and horrid a situation they will place animals in to get more views.
It’s such a disgusting trend
And the more people get the wrong ideas about wild animals as well, and might harm them if they ever get in touch with them. :(
this video needs to go viral, way to many naive people promoting and donating to these fake rescues. I've been calling them out for years and here is a couple more things to watch for. When they say things like "we could tell the kitten was in bad shape and needed urgent care" then proceed to film it for several minutes without actually helping. Kittens that run to the rescuer, this would almost never happen with a feral kitten which would do everything it could to run away. It's become a huge problem here on YT.
*Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.*
*TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
Its pointless since clueless old people refuse to do any research at all and would rather continue to be lied to and scammed
i’m so glad someone is talking about this. it makes me so sad to see people hurt animals in order to go viral like the people who glue stuff on turtles to “rescue them”
Agreed .... fakes, AI generated, text to speech and more lies tugging at our heart strings all for clicks & views.
More users need to listen, view and understand your coverage. By viewing the type of content you're describing, it only enables the "bad actors". Keep up the good work and reveal the truth.
Thank you for bringing this up. Drives me crazy to listen to these “fake” videos. Then to have to watch the inconsistencies in the video as they show pics that don’t even match the story.
Great work and thanks for helping to raise awareness on these subjects especially the important ones like whales and barnacles! The world will forever be grateful for all the selfless work you do. You're brilliance, natural beauty, knowledge, and the true emotion you bring are all unmatched KP. Don't ever stop doing what you do. The world needs more people like you(none can ever replace you) but many, many more like you
Sometimes I’m not sure until halfway through the video when you really notice some things are off, but I saw one recently on the Dodo, of all places (usually they’re pretty good) of a family that supposedly “rescued” a “6 week old puppy” from Craigslist, and made it “deck hand” on their yacht in the San Francisco Bay. People in the comments were profusely thanking these people for “saving” this puppy mill puppy they bought from a breeder on Craigslist - Craigslist allowing people to post pets for sale as long as they pretend that it’s a “rehoming fee.” It made me realize just how gullible most people are. And even the Dodo is on the act. Thanks for these videos.
The Dodo has gotten so bad.
The Dodo has _been_ bad ever since they started posting "baby monkey 'rescue'" videos that were known to be staged.
@@Robespierre-lI Heck, I know what to look for now, and even I can miss several of the details KP pointed out [like the change f animals].
You have to actually be analyzing every detail in the video, looking _for_ manipulation _actively._ Which, let's face it, is _not_ what we're looking to do when we sit down and open YT.
Remember, folks: The first and frontline form of protection against being scammed is to _assume you aren't immune to being conned._ You cannot defend yourself when you don't know what vulnerabilities you have and where they are.
I’ve never thought The Dodo was ethically responsible, and emailed them to say so, years ago. Their main thrust is to “foster goodwill towards animals” but they don’t print caveats, ever. They encourage laypeople to do things they’re not qualified to do, they never ever mention that you need federal and state permits to take legal care of federally protected wildlife, they give a platform to puppy mill sales, as well as not warning you may need to be vetted for local licenses and permits even to possess unprotected wild species. They miss the opportunity to educate while they’re fostering their idyllic, Disney-esque “goodwill.” It’s irresponsible, imho. I don’t watch their videos any more, blocked them, the videos they reproduce are often anthropomorphic and irresponsible. They only show happy endings, not what can happen when an amateur does the wrong things. Real rescuers aren’t hobbyists. The Dodo has got a big public platform and a following, and could do a lot better. They don’t seem to think responsibility goes hand in hand with their happy stories. Sad.
@MarySanchez-qk3hp I agree 100% with you about The Dodo. They're garbage.
Thank you. We really need more guidelines for faked animal videos.
I'm especially concerned about videos where they make different species of animals interact.
I believe those are a product of experimentation, and that there may be a number of "unfortunate incidents" as a result of that practice.
Bookmarked that link.
Most cases of animals of different species that aren't normally symbiotic getting along in the wild tend to end tragically, which makes me really suspicious of those kind of 'animal friends' videos that don't feature domesticated animals with warped instincts. An example I can think of was a clip from a nature documentary where a leopard cuddled with a baby baboon whose mother she had just eaten, because having a baby monkey around confused her maternal instincts. The baby died of exposure while the leopard was sleeping and she straight up forgot about it the next morning. I can only imagine how a fake 'animal rescue' story would frame it as her adopting an orphaned baby baboon that she just happened to find and they both lived happily ever after.
The first question you should always ask on any video on the internet is "Why were they filming?"
Immediate red flag if it's somebody walking through an uninteresting woodland then they suddenly turn to find the exact spot where six kittens were hiding in a bush.
Additionally if I were to find an injured or lost animal my first instinct wouldn't be to film them for internet clout.
hiya KP. honestly so glad you made a video on this topic - it has been a frustration of mine for some years - especially the AI speech stuff, like you say i follow official pages and channels, to see real rescues -
but then the algorithm sees i like that and feeds me fake stuff. its so frustrating. .. these people who make these vids, especially like the one you showed they often have different animals, and not even the same species.
trying to explain this sort of thing, like what you have put in this video to my friends who insist on sending me personally "lovely rescues" and i point out its fake and wrong etc, they say oh well i like the story, and the videos cute.... but factually incorrect, it gives people on the street the idea they can just interfere... this infuriates me so much.
i cannot stand this world where clicks and likes are the currency, the truth and the safety of the creatures are not thought about at all.
KEEP UP THE FANTASTIC WORK KP. you are Brilliant.
The algorithm can be so frustrating this way! I’m glad you can relate.
Thank you - FINALLY somebody with some credibility calling these videos out! I see the same clips being used over and over in multiple stories, like the grateful deer that brought his family to the back door. Please. Or entire ecosystems changing in one video that’s supposed to be happening in the same area. Or human emotions being projected on to the animal like it was so grateful or heartbroken or confused. And then the empathetic comments from people who are just suckers.
man, as a wildlife carer, thank you for this. I see so many fake videos, and sometimes videos that promote danger towards the animal. I always report them as harmful material, but the way the world is now, no one modding is going to see it as harmful to the animal.
I am so glad someone addressed this issue. I am an avid animal lover and have been noticing so many of such fake videos, fake rescues etc by fake people.
I truly despise that AI voice, simply because it's used to narrate so many fake videos!
It’s a big red flag for sure!!!
AI is dangerous and I personally think it should be banned!
@@bugloverspiderlover8490 Alas, we are now in a world of constant lies.
That's because the perpetrators can't speak good English but want to cash in on international audiences.
Good rule of thumb: always delete AI generated videos. They're usually created by Chat GTP Bots.
Oh god, yes! And their illiteracy, too!
Thank you so much for posting this. Awareness is key, I learned a lot from you. These fake edited videos are bad, and it's shocking to see videos of drugged and abused animals get high ratings for a "rescue." Thank you for providing a way to report this. Are there any other solutions that have come up? Many of us want to do more. There are soooo many fake rescues still out there.
I’m glad someone is addressing these videos.
The lady at 1:20 looks just like y... oh, wait.
There’s a desperate need for people like you giving people resources to spot these fake vids, kudos to you and your work
So glad you made this video. I see these stupid things every day. They cut clips and paste them together. I saw a baby otter that was in reality a baby beaver. They drive me crazy and they’re unethical. Humanizing these animals is just crazy. I can see people going up to a baby moose, thinking they’re going to save it only to meet mama. Because people are dumb.
KP, since you mentioned some rescue organizations on the west coast, I’d like to mention the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, FL. I was a volunteer there for 5 years. They rescue, rehab and release marine mammals, sea turtles, manatees and others. The aquarium took a lot of damage from Helene, but has reopened. Their marine mammal rehab facility, however, sustained a lot of damage and won’t be able to be used for rehabs for a long time.
My friend is the veterinarian there! The damage to the facility has been devastating. I am hopeful that funding will give them much needed upgrades. Thank you for supporting them!
I was worried about them, I’ve got a relative who moved there just a few weeks before Helene and knew that aquarium was there, glad to hear they’re recovering.
Thank you for posting this! It drives me nuts to see video after video of animal rescues and most don't even try to hide it!
I’ve thought about this! Most are too scripted and no one stands around with a camera in the moment like that.
What would really work is if yt and the other sms actually had someone checking them before they are uploaded. But since staggering amounts of money are involved, that will never happen. Makes me so angry I do scream, into the pillow so no one hears it but me.
Thanks KP.
Have you tried reporting the channels? Now I know better, I am going to start reporting to TH-cam.
It's sad that we need this sort of video, but I'm glad you made it! Now I have something to link people to when the really crappy videos pop up (where they have just put the animal in a distressing/harmful situation to pretend to "rescue" it). I hate that TH-cam/other social media rewards them.
thank you so very much for doing this. It has gotten really bad. Even the 'a kitten followed me home' type videos make me wonder. Here in Japan there was a guy who 'found' a kitten covered in glue.. rescued it, spent weeks removing the glue etc.. his views went up and up, and people donated a lot, the kitten recovered... his views started dropping... then the kitten died suddenly in some mysterious way.. and not a week later he had 'found' another kitten. I am too scared to look at the channel now. I have most of the Vietnamese animal rescue channels blocked too.
It's disgusting what some people will do for views... when you see one of those videos, please report the channel to the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition linked below.
www.smaccoalition.com/report-a-concern
Thank you for injecting some reality into our increasingly fake world. More importantly, thank you for your work with animals in distress. You are an awesome person.
You're welcome! Glad you found it helpful.
I applaud your efforts in calling out these fake and dangerous videos. I know very little about sea wildlife, but because I grew up in National Parks I am always concerned with all wildlife. One of my pet peeves about Anti-Social Media (that's what I have always called it since the early AOL days 25 plus years ago), is people who put game cameras on trees and then put something in front it to attract wild animals. This is commonly referred to as "Baiting", which is illegal whether you're hunting or taking photos and making videos.
These fake videos are another form of that, that is commonly known as "Clickbaiting." The purpose of these fake videos, which typically have sensationalized titles like "You Must be a Genius to correctly answer this 10 or 20 question quiz" that is typically about 3rd to 5th grade level, is to attract people who will watch them beginning to end, and begging people to Like and Subscribe to their channel. They also beg you to sign up for notifications so you can be notified when they post more videos.
If you check if the channel is monetized you'll often find that they are. And of course that is the whole point. To make money, giving little regard to who or what is endangered by their actions. Truth is also not a common thing with many of these videos. That is not to say there aren't monetized TH-cam channels that are presenting legit facts about something, as there are quite of few of them. It's the fake news ones I dislike the most. And of course, TH-cam won't do anything about them because they get a large percentage of the money these channels make. (Someone told it's 45%, and while I have not verified that, I certainly would not put it past them to do it.)
I don't know for a fact that the website listed below is 100% accurate, but I use it anyway...
TH-cam Monetization Checker:
ytmonetizationchecker.com/
As I always say, if someone is saying something is true when you know it's a lie, it's almost guaranteed there is money being made somehow.
This is the video that should go viral!
You are the first one I encounter on youtube that pays attention to this disgusting phenomenon. This needs more attention!
I have been blocking all of these channels for a few years now. I block the good with the bad. I take no chances.
TH-cam has not put any of these fake videos in my feed for at least 6 months now.
Thank you for posting this video! I will be more careful about who I trust from now on. I have never shared those videos, but I have seen them and feel duped! I try to watch content like you because you are amazing, but unfortunately there are more fakes out there then genuine people like you. Keep up the great work!!! Love your videos!!!
I seriously can’t thank you enough for making this video! ❤️ I see these “animal stories” or “animal rescue” videos all the time that are narrated by AI with the usage of completely different clips. It’s so obviously fake and the amount of people believing them is sad and honestly disappointing.
I agree! It's really frustrating to see people promoting harmful misinformation.
It’s still blows my mind that people would do that. Thank you for making this video and pointing different things to watch out for.
yeah, a friend of mine recently sent me a video about a "heartwarming" monkey love story. In which a male monkey baby was saved by humans, and then the humans found him a girlfriend, they had monkey babies, and lived happily ever after. She has gullible conspiracy brain, so me telling her the video was fake wouldn't have mattered.. but it was so ridiculous
@@klbriceno1 plus these people get so angry at the messenger when you tell them it’s not only fake but often cruel to the animals. They call us jaded and they act like we’re the problem, not the person abusing an animal for clicks.
@goodgrief888 yes, exactly
Ugh! The baby-monkey abuse happening on social media is not only horrible, it's out of control.
If she truly had conspiracy brain she would realise it's dang fake . Kinda funny she didn't
@@John_Weiss it’s not only happening on social media, although that’s horrific. It’s been happening in science labs, zoos, and universities. These “enlightened” institutions will order a baby primate for research purposes, then poachers go into primate habitats, kill the mothers, and snatch their babies clinging to their dead mothers bodies, and then these institutions who paid for this to happen pretend to be humanitarians doing research to help them. And many times these sentient beings are kept in tiny enclosures with no enrichment and tortured. But yes, doing it for clicks is also horrific. Who are these people watching this stuff as entertainment?
So nice of you to ask the community not to harass those accounts. I should point out that aside from unfollowing and blocking them, we can also REPORT videos with offending practices.
TH-cam doesn't do shit to them
My partner rescues animals and she says "if they have time to record and post it online its fake, because no real rescues first thought on a animal in distress is record, your first thought is helping the animal not clout." She right if you are recording your not going to properly handle the animal with one hand on your phone, your not prioritising the animals care your hinking about clout, also people who fake these videos for views are the scum of the earth as they often abuse and scare the animal before recording to make it look as bad and scared as it is.
Thank you for your video.
I have been waiting for some body to speak up about this issue.
I have sadly seen people profit from such videos as to cut a maggot out of a cat using a pocket knife, and the ones where they find cats and dogs with a chain around their necks and a guy comes in and cuts the chain off using an angle grinder, or videos showing cats in a river with a rope around their neck, and this person comes in to save the day.
They are using animals for profit and You-tube needs to clamp down on this animal cruelty.
For the real people who want to do the right thing by animals then we need to give our support by watching true animal rescues, not those who are using animals for profit.
Thanks to you KP, I rarely believe videos unless they're from sources such as you!
Skepticism is wise when it comes to the internet!
I might add, if anything good came out of the pandemic, it was being able to watch live streem videos of those floofs, which was how I learned about you and your colleagues! Keep up the great work!
FINALLY someone speaks up about this. I hated calling it out in the comments and getting absolutely *stomped* into the ground by all these “experts” knowing better than me.
FINALLY someone made a video on this Ai slop. I saw some fake lizard “rescue” and it showed 8 DIFFERENT SPECIES
I have reported numerous "rescue" channels to TH-cam, especially those from the Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand. The one channel was absolutely so terrible, they used puppies and kittens and put them in all kinds of peril, like at the back of a clearly hand dug hollow and put a snake in there as well. These people are without conscience.
Ja es ganz ganz furchtbar was da passiert mit den Kätzchen.
Und wenn man es meldet machen die Tierquäler einfach weiter indem sie einen neuen Kanal aufmachen.
Was sind da bloß für Menschen.😡😡
Yes, and they seem to find them everywhere. I have never once come across a kitten covered with tar in a bag on the highway in 69 years!
Seriously whats wrong with humans
Finally someone calling attention to these videos and accounts.The number of people so easily fooled is alarming.Its obvious in many videos that the animals involved have been intentionally placed in harms way to film a fake rescue for likes and views.
I’ll be saving the linked website to report them,since YT doesn’t seem to take reports seriously.😢
Thanks for making this video and educating people on this topic. I have come across a lot of fake animal rescuing videos too and I usually only notice it because of the editing cutting back and forth to different animals like you mentioned. I wished we could tell before clicking on the video though so these people don't get any attention or views.
I agree! It's infuriating that people would exploit animals for views.
At least these are largely combinations of rescues compiled together with a false narrative. I'm concerned about groups literally manufacturing rescues for the clicks. "Hey, lets leave these dogs in a dirty pen without food for weeks, and then come and 'rescue them'". THAT is what I'm worried about. Ah, you cover that here... 7:00
I saw one where these puppies were in hot tar and stuck to the road screaming in pain. It said they “rested on the tar for warmth, but the sun came up and heated the tar to dangerous temperatures, trapping them” so of course, I call bulls***. If the sun was hot enough to cause the tar to reach that level, why would the puppies be seeking warmth? They basically ripped those poor puppies off the tar and acted like hero’s. I wanted to reach into the screen and throttle the “rescuers”.
I get so sick of seeing these fake videos, but what is really disturbing is seeing how many people think they are real.
Hi KP! I live in Montana - near Yellowstone National Park. A favorite sow grizzly bear (ear tag #399) was recently hit by a car and killed. She was 28 years old- and several years ago raised 4 cubs.
My issue is with the outpouring of social media posts proclaiming her to be sweet (she attacked a human once) and so many other human traits. She was a wild animal. Why do humans feel the need to anthropomorphize animals?
This is a really valid question. Anthropomorphism can absolutely be incredibly harmful especially on the levels you are describing. But there is some good to it. Anthropomorphism allows us to connect with the world around us. So I think instead of trying to cut it out entirely (even I can’t do that and I have a career in the field!) we should strive to recognize and acknowledge when we or others are doing it.
@@KPassionate❤
Was she sweet to her pups? It's possible be be sweet without being nice to everyone all the time.
Are animals void of emotions?? Often it's not anthropomorphizing, it's observation. I am not saying we are the same, we certainly aren't. But do not deny animals emotions because they have incredibly rich emotionals lives. Calling it anthropomorphizing may be a sign of putting yourself into a superior position above the animal.
Of course animals have emotions, but these can be challenging to define and are often misinterpreted. This is one reason we try not to anthropomorphize animals, because "it can lead to an inaccurate understanding of biological processes in the natural world. It can also lead to inappropriate behaviors towards wild animals such as adopting a wild animal as a ‘pet’ or misinterpreting the actions of a wild animal."
[1] www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/15/anthropomorphism-danger-humans-animals-science
A great example is the orcas who are attacking boats in Spain and Portugal. In my opinion, a lot of people WANT the orcas to be out for revenge because they are projecting their own feelings onto the whales. Whether they think the orcas are mad about overfishing, global warming, SeaWorld, the rich, or whatever. But the vast majority of marine biologists agree... the orcas are simply playing.
[2] www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-attacking-boats-are-actually-just-bored-teenagers-having-fun-experts-say
I just recently came across videos regarding fake rescue groups and how to spot fake rescues on TH-cam. I just came across yours. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EDUCATING ME!!! I am a hardcore animal lover...in fact, I prefer animals over people most of the time. Anyway, I'm so glad for your guidance and now rarely click on any animal videos unless they are by groups like Soi Dog Foundation, Sheldrick Trust, HERD, Wild Animal Sanctuary, Geobeats, or the Dodo. Thank you again❤
Thank you for speaking out!
To add to this: Faked videos don't always have to be putting an animal in danger and "saving it", they can also show footage in reverse order. As in - they film a healthy animal, which they then harm in some way, but they act as if they found it hurt and then helped it recover. So it's very possible that the animal was crippled or died after all.
Animals also do not cry tears out of sadness or happiness - if they cry a lot, it's for medical reasons. Stay vigilant!
Thank you for spreading awareness. This is ever so important in a world where misinformation and fake news are becoming ubiquitous. It really made me question how many of those "rescue" videos i had watched were genuine.😑
will be extra skeptical and alert from now on.. keep up the good work👍🏻and to HELL with all scammers and animal abusers
Unfortunately, there are a lot of fake videos out there!
Thanks for this. I always question the cat and dog rescued videos by these people that claim to be animal lovers but they seem so staged and that upsets me that they are doing this to animals and making a living off the animals expenses.
Yeah, I block a lot of those. I've heard some channels will abandon a dog out there for a few days and come back. If someone accidentally finds a pup, that's one thing. You can sort of tell that it's real, but people that so it for clicks something feels off.
I've seen countless videos for animal rescue and many of them use different shots from different animals to convey a story. Thanks for the video and for spreading factual good information!
The one that boiled my blood was a Brazilian who claimed he rescued sea turtles that couldn’t swim because they were almost completely covered with barnacles.
But, if you paid any real attention to the video you will see that every single video showed different species of RIVER turtles.
Then you see him removing the barnacles using a razor blade and a pair of pliers. In some cases the barnacles seem to fall off with little to no effort. You can tell he used some sort of CA glue to adhere the hollow/dead barnacles to the shells.
Worst of all was his release. He would always take these RIVER turtles to an ocean beach and let them go, but they often turned around away from the saltwater.
I really felt bad for the turtles and angry at the guy and at the idiots who kept “blessing him for doing God’s work”. It was infuriating. People absolutely did not want to reason about it. Some got very mad and said I was disrespecting his work and discouraging him.
A few of us kept reporting his videos until TH-cam finally took down his account. But it took some doing.
Thank you for sharing… I have always called out these “animal rescue” fake and disgusting videos. I also report to TH-cam. The best thing is to go to their channel and see what other videos they have posted. You can see exactly most are scammers abusing animals. You can identify the true rescue channels. Did not know about reporting to the link you gave….thank you!!
Thank you for making this video, those clickbaits are maddening!
I volunteered for 2 weeks for the ARCAS rescue centre in Guatemala and can highly recommend them as a great organisation to contribute to 👌
Thank you 🙏 it's heartbreaking to see fake animal rescues...there's been a few times were I tried reporting them, but TH-cam doesn't seem to really care...so thank for sharing the link ❤
*Go after the money, contact TH-cam's sponsors about these horrendous videos and how disgusted you are about their content being associated with them and that you will not be purchasing any of their products going forward.*
*TH-cam will be singing a different tune very shortly, I assure you. :)*
Thank you for this, I always find these kinds of videos suspicious if I can tell there isn't continuity, so glad you're educating people on that.
Also you have no idea how happy I am about the fact that you can tell the difference between a sea and river otter even as pups
Thank you for exposing those fake videos …. So many of them and they are so disturbing
First of your videos ive ever seen and right of the bat i already have huge respect for you.
These rescuing videos are so frustrating to come across especally since i am a student finishing up my education in animal wellfare and husbandry and thus work with animals regurarly.
Thank you for spreading awareness 🙏💙
Welcome in! I’m glad you liked the video. The fake videos are driving me nuts lol