Viral video of pig saving goat is fake

(CNN) - There are so many viral videos of animal rescues out there, it's easy to fall for a fake.

CNN's Jeanne Moos pulls back the curtain on a hoax that some are calling piggy-gate.

It was put on YouTube five months ago, picked up by tons of websites, Tweeted out by everyone from Time Magazine to Ellen and played by networks like FOX, NBC and ABC.

A little goat is literally drowning in the pond when a little pig comes to the rescue.

But now, just in time for the premiere of a new Comedy Central Show, the prank's been exposed in a New York Times article.

The mission: To create a hero pig by staging a viral video in which he rescues a baby goat from drowning. 

Some were already suspicious, saying you could see an arm. And sure enough, the host of the Comedy Central Show that pulled the hoax revealed divers were involved, as well as a trained, professional pig.

"So we decided to build an underwater track out of PVC to guide the pig, like a bowling ball going down a bumper lane,” explained the revealing video.

You know what they say about pigs: This little piggy went to market.

Make that viral marketing.