Fake rescues put animals at huge risk: Report

The report 'Spot the Scam: Unmasking Fake Animal Rescues' documented the dangerous phenomenon of "fake animal rescue" content on social media.

Fake rescue content features animals who have been harmed or placed in dangerous situations specifically so that the content creator can appear to rescue the animal from that situation to generate revenue from "likes" and "shares", as well as from direct donations from the viewer, the report said.

The report said that these videos are shared across social media, and that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are not doing enough to remove them, thus giving offenders essentially a free rein to promote and perpetuate animal cruelty. SMACC, made up of 29 animal protection organizations, calls on these social media companies to take steps in tackling fake rescue content on their platforms.

The report stated that among the videos of cute animals on social media, one will find those showing animals in need of rescue and care and such content may show a heroic human rushing in to rescue a defenceless animals from danger and followed by other social media users commenting and praising the actions of the people involved.

Some of these scenarios are genuine and showcase the incredible and vital work of animal protection organizations and individuals around the world, but it is very disturbing that some of these are not real at all, the report said.

"Some rescue content in fact shows staged situations in which animals are intentionally put in danger, specifically so that the content creators can film themselves behaving 'heroically rescuing the animals'. For fake rescue content, animals are unnecessarily harmed, stressed, or exposed to risks. These videos can look realistic, but unfortunately the animals involved are being exploited and harmed, and are suffering for the sake of social media content", the report said.

"The content is presented to the viewer as a genuine rescue of an animal in need. Various tactics and misleading signals are employed to make the content appear realistic to the viewer. Fake rescue themes vary widely, from animals in situations of immense danger, to the rescue of abandoned animals, to being buried or trapped, to animal attacks and fights, to animals in need of medical attention. Creators of fake rescue content are not genuine animal rescuers or organizations, but are individuals seeking engagement on their social media, and sometimes seeking to profit from donations and monetization of their content through advertising," it added.

Such videos, the report said, have managed to gather over 572 million views. Given this trend, the report also aims to raise awareness among the public and animal lovers, to ensure they are not exacerbating the problem, by falling for fake rescue content, generating views in the millions for fake rescue content creators.

The Federation of Indian Animals Protection Organisations (FIAPO), a core member organisation representing India in the AfA Coalition, strongly believes that social media platforms have a responsibility in regulating such content.

Bharati Ramachandran, CEO, FIAPO stated, "Fake animal rescues on social media put animals in extremely risky situations to film their 'rescue.' They also profit off compassionate people, while undermining the credibility of real rescue work. This is a new form of animal abuse that traumatises, hurts, and can be fatal to animals. As an audience, we must be aware and avoid rewarding such content with either engagement or any form of donation. We urge social media platforms to acknowledge this disturbing practice and implement systems that can swiftly detect and remove such harmful material."

Such content shows animals in situations of immense danger; abandoned on the streets, buried alive or trapped in objects, being attacked by predators, and in need of medical attention. Very little is known about what happens to the animals after these video clips; what conditions they are kept in, how they are treated by the content creator, or if they are kept in suitable environments.

Over a third of the content showed animals apparently "abandoned," often by the side of the road, in rubbish dumps and bins. Multiple videos also show mother cats laying on the ground, wide-eyed and unable to move their bodies, as their kittens cry out and try to feed. The content then shows the cats being "rescued" and brought back to full health. Veterinarians who have reviewed this content suspect that the cats may in fact be intentionally drugged for the videos. One such video had over 136,000 views.

Twenty one per cent of videos showed animals trapped or stuck in places, under or inside objects. Often the animal is left struggling for periods of time before the "rescuer" attempts to help them. One video showed a puppy with their head stuck inside a bottle for over a minute, which appeared to have been cut to fit the puppy's head. The bottle is removed and the dog taken to a vet practice.

Some creators pit animals against each other, often showing "prey and predator" interactions such as birds of prey, or huge snakes wrapping themselves around cats, dogs, goats and even monkeys, trying to kill and eat them.

Some content appears to have been created to appeal to fans of "pimple popping" videos, showing parasites being removed from the bodies of animals. Content showing dogs infested with ticks are actually beans or seeds stuck to the fur of the animal, which are then removed by the creator with tweezers. Another variation on this theme features the removal of what appear to be small snakes from the ears of monkeys - in one such video, this 'act' goes on for 12 minutes. This is true in other fake rescue content also, where animals are left to struggle for minutes at a time before the creator attempts to help them.

In addition to severe welfare concerns, SMACC found that endangered species were being used by content creators.

After widespread media coverage about fake rescue content in recent years, some social media companies have implemented policies against such content appearing on their platforms. However, SMACC's report shows these methods appear to be ineffective in capturing the ever-growing variety of Fake Rescue content that exists on social media.

To aid social media platforms and the public, SMACC identified key indicators that can be used to determine what is real and fake. The report encourages the public to always check the source of the information, reality check among others.

SMACC and FIAPO advise that viewers look for indicators of fake rescue and to report such content directly to the platforms. They advise social media users to not watch, engage with, or share the content!

The AfA Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) is composed of 29 well-known and respected animal advocacy organizations who share the aim of stopping the proliferation of animal cruelty content on social media platforms. SMACC is a collaboration by various members of the Asia for Animals Coalition network.

Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) is India's leading animal protection body. As a collective voice for the animal protection community in India, FIAPO unites animal protection organisations nationwide acting as their resource and information centre to exchange ideas, build expertise and take action to strengthen the animal rights movement in the country. They are the largest federation in the country and one of the (two) largest movement-building organisations in the world. (ANI)