Fear not, human babies: A viral video showing an eagle swooping down into a park and briefly picking up an infant with its talons was nothing but a project by some students at Quebec’s National Animation and Design Center. “The child and the eagle were created in 3-D animation by students and then integrated into a real shooting,” according to a Google-translated version of a statement released by the school this afternoon. Even before the Centre NAD, as it’s known, copped to the hoax, some sharp-eyed Internet sleuths had pretty much figured things out on their own; most convincing, a part of the eagle’s wing disappears for a span of one frame. Bush league, guys.
The lesson here is not, simply, that we should always question even the most convincing-looking things we may find on the Internet. The lesson is that our gentle and sincere Canadian neighbors are becoming increasingly mischievous and are not to be trusted, ever. Bilingual dogs, baby-snatching eagles — any weird animal news story you hear coming out of Canada is a lie. Oh, come on, it’s all in good fun, you say. Sure — that’s what the boy who cried wolf thought, too. Be careful, Canada. When seals start attacking your hockey players, or polar bears steal all of your beloved maple syrup, nobody is going to help you.
