When Claims Are Recycled: Are Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets in US?

Remember the claim by Donald Trump on Haitian immigrants eatings residents' pets in Ohio in the presidential debate with Kamala Harris?

The claim was roundly condemned during the campaigning for 2024 elections in the United States of America…but why are we bringing this up now? Because it keeps coming up.

Vice President JD Vance also made the same claim and his X post was viewed over 11 million times.

What we found

Denial 1: In a one-on-one interview with CNN, Rob Rue who is the mayor of Springfield, Ohio, said: “We do not...We just have no verifiable claims that this is actually happening.”

Denial 2: City officials told BBC Verify there are “no credible reports" mentioning that this has actually happened.

Also Read:How AI Images Fueled Pet-Eating Rumours About US Immigrants

Where is the claim coming from?

We searched online and found that news reports quoted multiple sources.

Some said it’s from a social media post in Springfield Facebook group. In the post, a local claimed that their neighbour’s daughter lost her cat and found it hanging at a Haitian neighbour’s home. Apparently, it was being carved up to be eaten.

While news outlets like Forbes ran headlines saying: 'Blaming Immigrants For Eating Pets Is An Old American Urban Legend'.

Remember folks, spreading unverified information can have serious consequences. In this case, these rumours resulted in a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the Ohio City Hall.

So, always verify any information before you share, or look out for Teen Fact-Checking Network’s fact-checks.