YouTube to start banning fake 'pet rescue' videos

By Joe Kelley

June 11, 2019 at 10:11 am EDT

YouTube to start banning fake 'pet rescue' videos A Chinese pastoral dog has given birth to eight puppies in quanzhou town, quanzhou county, guilin, guangxi, China. The picture was taken on May 13, 2019, one month after the birth of the puppy. PHOTOGRAPH BY Costfoto / Barcroft Media (Photo credit should read Costfoto / Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) (Barcroft Media)

By Joe Kelley

June 11, 2019 at 10:11 am EDT

Apparently, unscrupulous YouTube users will stick puppies and kittens in dangerous situations only to have them "rescued" at the last second in an effort to gain clicks and likes. But that's coming to an end.

According to Gizmodo, tons of these videos, some of which have racked up millions of views, exist on the site.

A common version depicts snakes attacking pets used as bait, who are then "saved" by the person filming, posted with clickbaity headlines like, "Brave Man Rescues Family Puppies From Giant Python Attack And Saved Both Lives".

Gizmodo notes that YouTube has started pulling down these kinds of content on Monday, which they believe violates the site's rules prohibiting, "infliction of unnecessary suffering or harm deliberately causing an animal distress."