© Youtube screenshotA screengrab is shown from a YouTube video called "Golden Eagle Snatches Kid."
A Montreal media school has admitted that a viral video showing a toddler being snatched up by a golden eagle is a hoax.
The video -- uploaded to YouTube Tuesday -- begins with the camera following a large bird circling in the sky above a park. The bird then swoops down to where a child is sitting on the grass, with an adult standing nearby.
The bird appears to grab the child with its talons before ascending a few feet into the air as the adult runs over. The bird drops the child and flies away.
Within just a few hours, the video had gone viral, amassing more than 2.7 million views.
But on Wednesday, the Montreal-based Centre NAD posted a blog owning up to the fact that the video was the work of several students in the school's 3D Animation and Digital Design program.
"Both the eagle and the kid were created in 3D animation and integrated into the film afterwards," the school wrote, citing Normand Archambault, Loic Mireault and Felix Marquis-Poulin as the student masterminds behind the clip.
"The production simulation workshop class, offered in fifth semester, aims to produce creative projects according to industry production and quality standards," the blog added.
Comment: This is just so massively outrageous and disgusting - what more can be said? Police state?? We are already there!