Fact Check: Are Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets and Birds in Springfield, Ohio?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Viral stories of Haitian immigrants eating cats, dogs, and ducks in Springfield, Ohio were rejected by local officials.
Viral Claims:
- Charlie Kirk (Right bias) shared a post including a story of Haitian immigrants eating a resident's cat.
- In one widely shared clip from a Springfield City Commission meeting, a man named Anthony Harris says he witnessed migrants "grabbing up ducks by the neck, cutting the heads off... and eating them." A longer video from Fox News (Right) shows Harris introduce himself as a "social media influencer."
- Another post claimed to show bodycam footage of a woman "eating a neighbor’s pet cat." Fact checks unanimously concluded that the woman depicted was born in the U.S.
- Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance posted, "Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?"
- A police report details a witness who claimed to see four Haitians who had captured and killed wild geese.
- During his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump said migrants are "eating the pets" of other residents, a claim many mainstream news sources labeled false.
Springfield Rebuts: A city official told Lead Stories (Lean Left) there were "no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused," nor of immigrants "squatting or littering in front of residents' homes" or "deliberately disrupting traffic."
For Context: In recent years, Haitian immigrants have substantially increased Springfield's population, sparking local controversy.
How the Media Covered It: New York Post (Lean Right) rejected the social media claims but pivoted to "real migrant concerns" about overloaded local "services" and a fatal school bus crash. PolitiFact (Lean Left) noted that Harris is a self-described influencer, but many right-rated outlets merely called him a "resident." Some, especially left-rated sources, omitted details about the police report and resident testimonies while describing the claims as "baseless." Updated 9/16/24 at 8:58 am ET
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Haitian migrants eating pets? Here’s the even more serious story about immigrants in Springfield, OhioIt’s a wild viral claim that has been snapped up and memed by Elon Musk, Republican influencers and even former President Donald Trump’s running-mate JD Vance — but it also stems from a serious problem.
Are migrants from Haiti grabbing pets out of yards and ducks from public parks so they they can eat them?
Springfield police told the Springfield News-Sun that migrants turning pets into pâté was “not something that’s on our radar right now. A city spokesperson said, “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed,...
From the Left
Fact Check: No 'Haitian Immigrant' Was Charged With Eating A Cat In Ohio In 2024; U.S.-Born Woman Arrested On Animal Cruelty ChargesWas a Haitian immigrant charged with eating a cat in Ohio in 2024? No, that's not true: A background check on a woman Canton, Ohio, police arrested in August 2024 for allegedly torturing, killing and eating a cat showed that she was born in the U.S. There are no reports of anyone in Ohio's immigrant community eating any pets.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) posted on X, formerly Twitter, on September 8, 2024. The video's caption said:
A Haitian immigrant in Ohio ate her neighbors cat.
From the Left
Claims unfounded about Haitian immigrants eating pets, ducksSocial media users recently flooded platforms with unfounded rumors about Haitian immigrants in a small Ohio town. The immigrants are feasting on neighborhood pets, as well as ducks and geese at local parks, the social media posts said. But a city spokesperson told PolitiFact there are no credible reports this is happening. A Sept. 6 Facebook post said, "Springfield is a small town in Ohio. 4 years ago they had 60K residents. Under (Kamala) Harris and (Joe) Biden, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were shipped to the town. Now ducks and pets...
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