YouTube under fire for ‘horror show’ fake animal rescue channels

A snake is seen wrapping around a rabbit before it is "rescued" in what animal charities claim is staged animal abuse

YouTube is under fire for allowing “horror show” fake animal rescue videos to thrive, helping the creators profit from advertising revenue. 

Several popular channels showing puppies and kittens being rescued from harm’s way have been accused of abusing animals for clicks by animal activists.  

They claim that many of the videos are staged and often the same animal is used — and sometimes harmed — in a ploy to get a cut of the advertising revenue from YouTube parent Google without their knowledge.

The more views each video receives, the more money a channel can make.  

Scenes include puppies being suffocated by pythons, kittens left on motorways. In some cases clips showing animals with broken limbs or cuts remain online, despite complaints. 

Sarah Grant, coordinator for Asia for Animals Coalition’s social media working group warned that fake rescue channels had become “big business” and that they had noticed a significant ramp up in fake rescue channels. 

She said: “We’ve seen everything from fake drownings, live burials, purposely broken limbs, mothers being killed and their offspring taken, torment from other animals such as snakes.  “It is truly a horror show.”      

The videos often change their name after critics leave comments under videos showing what animal charities have described as animal abuse

The coalition includes British charities like the Donkey Sanctuary and the Humane Society, who have pledged to investigate animal abuse in Asia, where some of the videos are filmed.  

Many of the channels Asia for Animals have been monitoring have immense support “even when deliberate cruelty is depicted” and have adopted a celebrity-like status.

RSPCA chief inspectorate officer Dermot Murphy described the videos as "shocking and unacceptable".

He said: “It is incredibly irresponsible for people to deliberately place an animal in fear or danger just for entertainment and for ‘clicks’. 

“The RSPCA carries out genuine rescues of thousands of animals every year and our officers have seen first hand the effect this can have on animals.  

YouTube said it suspended one channel with 365,000 subscribers, and cut advertising from an additional three, which had 634,000 subscribers between them after they were brought to its attention by the Telegraph. It declined to comment on the matter.