No, Migrants Are Not Eating People’s Cats in Ohio

Conservatives have leveled plenty of ridiculous accusations against migrant communities. Donald Trump accused them of “poisoning the blood” of the nation. Tucker Carlson said they make the country “poorer, and dirtier, and more divided.” The Republican Party has largely adopted the racist great replacement conspiracy theory, and made a mythical “migrant crime wave” a central election issue. As if we needed more proof that right-wingers will do anything to malign migrants, they are now accusing immigrant communities of killing and eating beloved family pets.

On Monday, social media was flooded with posts from prominent conservative lawmakers and commentators claiming Haitian migrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were brutalizing and consuming local cats and ducks.

The viral allegation is baseless, and the Springfield Police Division told the Springfield News-Sun on Monday that they have received no reports of pets being stolen and eaten.

Springfield is a relatively small town northeast of Dayton. The city had fallen into a period of sustained economic hardship in the aftermath of the Great Recession, leading to population decline and the exit of major businesses and retailers from the area. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, a swell in manufacturing and warehouse work attracted a wave of about 20,000 Haitian migrants to the area. Contrary to viral claims from conservatives, they are not undocumented, and by and large have legal immigration status, work authorizations, and Social Security numbers.

The swift demographic shift in the Republican-leaning region created tension among some residents in Springfield — and those local frictions have now gone national.

On Friday, the prominent right-wing X account “End Wokeness,” which boasts nearly three million followers, posted a screenshot of a post on a private Facebook group of Springfield residents.

“Warning to all about our beloved pets & those around us!! My neighbor informed me that her daughters friend had lost her cat,” the user wrote. “One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbors house, where Haitians live, & saw her cat hanging from a branch, like you’d do a deer for butchering, & they were carving it up to eat. I’ve been told they are doing this to dogs, they have been doing it at snyder park with the ducks & geese, as I was told that last bit by Rangers & police. Please keep a close eye on these animals.”

The incident described in the Facebook post has not been verified, and Springfield police told the News-Sun that while they were aware of the post the alleged events were “not something that’s on our radar right now.”

The post was then seemingly connected to a separate incident that took place last month, far from the town of Springfield. In August, bodycam footage of a woman who was arrested after killing and attempting to eat a cat in a “residential area in front of multiple people,” went viral on social media. The woman, Allexis Telia Ferrell, was charged with abuse of an animal. The incident took place in Canton, Ohio, nearly two hundred miles away from Springfield. Canton police did not indicate that Farell was undocumented, but the video kicked off a storm of right-wing claims that undocumented Haitian migrants were devouring local cats.

Far-right influencer Ian Miles Cheong tweeted out the video of Farrell with the caption: “This woman was arrested for eating someone’s pet cat in Ohio. How does something like this happen?” When another user asked if drugs were likely a factor in the incident, Cheong responded, “Worse. Haitians.”

By Monday, the baseless claim was spreading like wildfire across social media.

Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance — Trump’s pick for vice president — wrote on X: “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. 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?”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posted an image of two kittens with a superimposed caption reading “PLEASE VOTE FOR TRUMP SO HATIAN IMMIGRANTS DON’T EAT US.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee and an Ohio lawmaker, wrote, “When President Trump was in office: 1. The border was secure. 2. Illegal aliens weren’t eating your pets.”

In an X post, the House Judiciary Committee’s official GOP account posted an AI-generated image of Trump snuggling a kitten and a duck while half submerged in a body of water.

“Residents of Springfield, OH are reporting that Haitians are eating their family pets, another gift of the Biden-Harris mass immigration replacement plan,” wrote TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. Liberals will soon be lecturing Americans on why they need to be sensitive to Haitian culture and accept this as the new normal. Those idiots deserve to be condemned and mocked mercilessly.”

“WTF!???” Donald Trump Jr. wrote in response to Kirk.

X owner Elon Musk repeatedly boosted the false claims. The right-wing billionaire posted an image of the cartoon characters Bart and Lisa Simpson standing over a headstone for their cat Snowball. “Ohio rn,” he captioned the image.

In a separate post responding to the viral story, Musk wrote, “Vote for Kamala if you want this to happen to your neighborhood!”

Immigration will likely be a major focal point during Tuesday night’s debate between Trump’ and Vice President Kamala Harris. While the former president has not directly addressed the false claims that migrants are killing people’s pets, he did allude to the situation in a post on Truth Social.

“20,000 Haitian migrants were dumped into the small town of Springfield, Ohio. Here is Border Czar Kamala Harris bragging about bringing them to our Country,” he wrote in the caption of a video of Harris.

The post lays bare the true intention of the xenophobic smear: to malign the Harris campaign and continue spreading fear about migrant communities ahead of the election.

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