A video from late 2012 shows a giant Golden Eagle swooping down and briefly picking up a small child, before dropping him and flying off. Is the video real or fake?
It’s a hoax.
In December 2012, a Canadian animation school released a statement which admitted to creating the hoax. Details of the video were given, namely that the eagle and the baby were both the products of computer animation. “Both the eagle and the kid were created in 3D animation and integrated in to the film afterwards,” the statement read. The full text of the statement is below:
The “Golden Eagle Snatches Kid” video, uploaded to YouTube on the evening of December 18, was made by Normand Archambault, Looc Mireault, Antoine Seigle and Filix Marquis-Poulin, students at Centre NAD, in the production simulation workshop class of the Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Digital Design.
The video shows a royal eagle snatching a young kid while he plays under the watch of his dad.
The eagle then drops the kid a few feet away.
Both the eagle and the kid were created in 3D animation and integrated in to the film afterwards.
– CENTRE NAD, MONTREAL
Let’s take a look at the original video, which was posted in late 2012.
Original Theories
Prior to the admission by the Canadian film school, many online viewers had theories about the video. Below is the original, unedited text of our coverage of this video, which includes many of those theories.
This is the only video posted by this user, which in and of itself doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it would have been more convincing had this user posted more than just this one video.
Floating Baby
Many viewers have commented on a variety of technical problems with the video. Take a look at the YouTube video below in which it appears that the baby is floating in the air before falling. Some have argued that the baby merely kept moving upward after being dropped, but the video clearly shows an unnatural lift after being let go. In fact, the baby moves upward, pauses, and then moves upward again, after being released by the bird’s talons. Look at :26 through :27 of the video below.
Fake Baby
Another theory is that the eagle in the video is real, but the baby wasn’t. It is suggested that the eagle did in fact swoop down, but the baby was either added later or was a doll.
Remnants of Birdman
This eagle video brings is reminiscent of the “Birdman” video from earlier this year. In that video, it was claimed that a man was able to fly by flapping a pair of constructed wings. Many were convinced that the video was real, but it ended up being a hoax. Take a look at that video below.
Both the eagle and birdman videos have similar characteristics. Both are shot from a distance at a park using shaky camera work.
We’ve asked a couple of film makers their opinions, and both were convinced that the video is fake.
Bottom Line
The video of an eagle snatching a baby at a park is fake and was created by a Canadian animation school.
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