Starting in September 2024, baseless claims and rumors spread online that Haitian immigrants were stealing pets in Springfield, Ohio, and eating them. The claims began with a local Facebook group post sharing a neighbor's story that her daughter's friend's cat had been butchered. The rumor was amplified by prominent figures in the American right, most notably Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate JD Vance, associate Laura Loomer, and X owner Elon Musk. The person whose Facebook post started the controversy later admitted she never spoke to the cat owner and the story lacked credibility.

Springfield and county law enforcement said that no credible reports or evidence support the claims, and the city's mayor, the city manager, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine have all denounced them. The claims were widely described as racist. Fact-checking website Snopes called the claims unfounded, while others characterized them as a hoax or a lie.

The pet-eating claims spread amid existing racial tensions in Springfield, where recent legal Haitian immigration reversed population decline, but strained some public resources. There had been previous incidents of hostility towards the local Haitian community and unfounded local rumors of Haitians stealing waterfowl and food. After the claims spread, dozens of bomb threats prompted Springfield officials to close public buildings, including the city hall and elementary schools, and DeWine deployed state police to conduct daily sweeps of the facilities.

In 1983, Newsweek called Springfield one of America's "dream cities," but in 2011 Gallup referred to it as the "unhappiest city" in the country primarily due to deindustrialization, which caused substantial job losses and an exodus of residents. Its population dwindled to under 60,000 in 2015 from about 80,000 in 1970. In 2014, the city began the "Welcome Springfield" initiative to attract immigrants in an attempt to improve the local economy. As city leadership and the Chamber of Commerce attracted new businesses, a labor shortage emerged. Haitian immigrants began arriving in Springfield in 2017 to work in local produce packaging and machining factories. By 2020, Springfield had somewhat successfully rebounded with the new employers creating some 8,000 jobs and with it, more labor shortage.

Employers urged workers to encourage Haitians to join the existing community to fill the new labor demands. Haitians in U.S., Haiti, and South America heard from family and friends about Springfield and its need for workers in warehouses, manufacturing and the service sector. The trickling immigration increased substantially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, coinciding with deepening political and economic instability in Haiti after the assassination of the president in 2021. Some 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants including many Haitians have legally moved to the Springfield area attracted by jobs and a low cost of living. In June 2024, ongoing crises and severe violence in the Caribbean nation of Haiti led the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to grant temporary protected status to Haitian immigrants, allowing the existing migrant population in the US to live and work without the risk of deportation.

While the migrants have had a positive economic impact on the city, the rapid growth of its immigrant population has strained public resources and fueled racial tension. This has led to a series of attacks on the Haitian community. In early 2023, a Springfield man committed several assaults and robberies on Haitian residents and was later sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. The local Haitian church was vandalized and broken into twice. US-born Black people of Springfield were verbally abused when mistakenly identified by strangers as Haitian immigrants.

In August 2023, a Haitian immigrant crashed into a school bus on State Route 41 northwest of Springfield, killing an 11-year-old boy. The driver was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide and sentenced to nine to thirteen and a half years in prison. The incident inflamed existing racial tensions in the area and increased hostility towards the Haitian community. In August 2024, the Springfield Jazz & Blues Fest was interrupted by neo-Nazis with rifles who performed Nazi salutes and held swastika flags. Local police called it "a little peaceful protest". Later that month, a member of the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe disrupted a Springfield city meeting, introducing himself with an allusion to an anti-black slur and threatening that "crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in". The Counter Extremism Project reports that on September 1, the white nationalist Patriot Front protested against the Haitian immigrants in Springfield.

The cat rumor stemmed from a post made in early September to a private Facebook group called "Springfield Ohio Crime and Information", and that post was later re-posted elsewhere. The post said:

Warning to all about our beloved pets & those around us!! My neighbor informed me that her daughter’s friend had lost her cat. She checked pages, kennels, asked around, etc. 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.

The post's author later admitted it lacked credibility, she did not know the person who owned the cat, and she heard the story "from a friend, who heard it from another friend, who heard it from an acquaintance". She later expressed regret that the story turned into hateful conspiracy theories.

Springfield's police department issued a statement that "there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community". Springfield mayor Rob Rue said that there was no evidence to support claims that geese or ducks from parks were being killed and eaten, later telling an interviewer "All these federal politicians that have negatively spun our city, they need to know they're hurting our city, and it was their words that did it." City Manager Bryan Heck called the rumor "disinformation". Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, rebuked the rumors, saying "This is a piece of garbage that is simply not true. There's no evidence of this at all." He also emphasized that these "people are here legally."

Other recent events unconnected to the original Facebook post contributed to the spread of disinformation. In July, a user posted a photo to Reddit of a man carrying two dead Canada geese on the street in Columbus, Ohio. The post initially attracted relatively little attention. More than a month later, right-wing sites and influencers started claiming the photograph shows a Haitian immigrant in Springfield. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was inundated with phone calls from people who thought the photo was evidence of Haitians eating waterfowl. According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the geese were killed in a car accident and there is no evidence that the man intended to eat them, nor that he was Haitian or an immigrant.

In August, a 27-year-old U.S.-born woman was arrested in Canton, Ohio, on charges that she killed and ate a cat. Police body camera footage of the arrest of the Canton woman was posted to social media spuriously labeled as an arrest in Springfield. Like the Columbus man, the Canton woman had no connection to Haiti or Springfield.

Before the pet-eating claims gained virality, there were unconfirmed rumors in Springfield of Haitians stealing waterfowl from city parks, which the city's Deputy Director of Public Safety and Operations denied, telling NPR "we haven't really seen any of that." On August 26, Clark County law enforcement dispatchers received a call saying Haitians had stolen geese from a Springfield park, but police found no evidence. Clark County Commission President Melanie Flax Wilt characterized the episode as a "literal wild goose chase", and Clark County officials said no other calls regarding stolen animals had been received in the last 11 months. The following day, a Springfield resident commented at a city commission meeting, without providing evidence, that immigrants were "in the park grabbing up ducks by their neck and cutting their head off ... and eating them". Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost cited the stolen-goose call as evidence that the media was ignoring evidence about the story.

Internet videos, including one reposted by Elon Musk, alleged sacrificing and eating cats and dogs was common practice in Haitian Vodou religion. Two Caribbean and Latin American ethnologists interviewed by Deutsche Welle said these allegations were myths. One added that Vodou had long been stigmatized in the U.S. since the 1915-1934 U.S. occupation of Haiti when American soldiers often interpreted Vodou rituals they observed as satanism.

The initial claims based on the Facebook post went viral among American far-right and neo-Nazi groups and popular right-wing X accounts, which presented the claims as fact, and blamed Haitian Americans and the Biden administration.

On September 9, JD Vance, a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the 2024 Republican nominee for vice president, spread the claim in a post on X, writing: "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." Vance responded to criticism of his post the following day, writing: "In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who've said their neighbors' pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It's possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false." He also encouraged supporters to continue posting and "keep the cat memes flowing".

Right-wing influencers used X to spread the claims and related memes, with Laura Loomer posting about "20,000 cannibalistic Haitians" eating cats and dogs in Springfield and Elon Musk sharing a variety of memes and videos about eating pets and Haitian voodoo. Ted Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas, posted a widely criticized meme relating to the incident on X, showing two cats with the caption "Please vote for Trump, so Haitian immigrants don't eat us". The Arizona Republican Party put out twelve roadside billboards in the Phoenix metro area stating "Eat less kittens, Vote Republican!", spoofing Chick-Fil-A's "Eat Mor Chikin" advertising campaign.

External videos
Cat-eating remarks during September 10, 2024, debate

During the Harris–Trump presidential debate on September 10, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed that: "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there." Moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump, stating that ABC News reached out to the city, whose spokesperson said there were no credible reports or specific claims of such activity.

Despite many news outlets debunking or criticizing the claims after the debate, they continued to spread and expand. Loomer accused Haitian immigrants of eating humans, while sharing a video captioned "Cannibalism in Haiti". White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, herself the daughter of Haitian immigrants, responded to the comments, stating that "no leader should ever associate with someone who spreads this kind of ugliness, this kind of racist poison." Trump began alleging that Haitians are walking off with pet geese from the parks and lakes in Springfield.

On September 14, 2024, Donald Trump pledged to conduct mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from the city of Springfield, even though the majority of them are in the United States legally. Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for senate in Ohio, likewise called for deportation and for their temporary protected status to be terminated. Also that day, Vance again promoted similar claims that Africans were eating cats in Dayton, Ohio by posting a dated video of cats roaming where skinned animals were being grilled. The video was likewise refuted by both Dayton police and the mayor of Dayton, while social media users responded that it appeared to just be chickens.

On September 15, Vance both defended the claims, saying they were "the first-hand accounts of my constituents", while also acknowledging that they were false, calling them a meme: "The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do."

On September 12, a bomb threat led to the closing of Springfield's City Hall, several Clark County buildings, and a local elementary school. The mayor said that the person making the threat "used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community". On September 13, more bomb threats caused several schools and municipal buildings to be evacuated and closed. On September 14, yet more bomb threats led to the temporary lockdowns of several other sites, including a hospital and medical center. The bomb threats were sent via email "to multiple agencies and media outlets" according to the city commission office. In response, mayor Rob Rue made an appeal to Americans that "We need help, not hate". The same day, Wittenberg University in Springfield announced that all activities on campus were cancelled for the next day after receiving an emailed threat of a potential shooting targeting Haitians. Clark State College said that it received a bomb threat and a shooting threat the same weekend and would hold classes online the following week.

Springfield law enforcement is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Dayton office to investigate the threats. Governor DeWine said on September 16 that Ohio state police would conduct daily sweeps of Springfield schools, having received at least 33 bomb threats, which he said were all confirmed hoaxes sent from overseas, including an unspecified "one particular country", possibly as "one more opportunity to mess with the United States". On September 16, the city cancelled its annual CultureFest, citing "recent threats and safety concerns".

On September 14, a group of Proud Boys marched in Springfield. The same weekend, flyers purporting to be from the Ku Klux Klan circulated, saying "Foreigners & Haitians Out", "Join us and stand against forced immigration."

Haitian Americans and Haitian immigrants have faced race-based attacks due to these claims. Haitian residents – some of whom have lived in the town for years – have since had windows broken and acid thrown on their cars as a result of the hoax.

Asked if he would denounce the bomb threats, Trump replied, "I don't know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it's been taken over by illegal migrants and that's a terrible thing that happened."

The claims, variously described as debunked, false, or a conspiracy theory, have been widely characterized as a racist attempt to stoke fears or resentment of immigrants. Fact-checker Snopes rated the rumors as "unfounded". A White House spokesperson said that Republicans were making false claims "based on an element of racism", and an editor from the nearby Columbus Dispatch said these were "undeniably racist rumors." A local NAACP leader said she received a flurry of racist emails soon after JD Vance got involved.

The Columbus photographer who posted the photo to Reddit of the man carrying the dead goose told The Columbus Dispatch he regretted taking the picture, saying: "I wish I never took it, for sure. And I hate that the picture that I took is being weaponized to use against immigrants, or really, any other group. They always have to have somebody to use as a weapon. Some group to be the bad guy." The father of the 11-year-old boy who was killed in the 2023 accident accused several politicians of exploiting his son's accidental death for political gain and demanded an apology from Trump and Vance for furthering a false narrative using the tragedy as a "political tool" to spur hatred towards Haitians. Vance had falsely claimed that the boy's death was a murder rather than an accident, while the Trump campaign had used images of the boy and the driver in their campaign materials.

The Arizona Republic described the remarks as the "most laughable line out of Tuesday's debate", and humorists mocked the claims, at times citing the 1986 NBC sitcom ALF about a space alien who attempts to eat cats while Sky News called it "fantasy world stuff with real world consequences". According to the Los Angeles Times, Trump has placed a target on the back of a small group of immigrants by repeating racist disinformation which is disgraceful and deserves ridicule.

On September 13, during a "Celebration of Black Excellence" brunch event at the White House, President Joe Biden said that Haitian Americans were "under attack in our country right now", describing and denouncing the false rumors and how Trump was spreading them, although not addressing the presidential candidate by name. One of the prior speakers at the event was press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who has Haitian ancestry.

Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who is Haitian American, criticized Trump's comments, noting that Haitian immigrants contribute to the U.S. and are "committed to education, hard work, and building a better life, not just for themselves but for all of us". The National Haitian-American Elected Officials Network said that Trump's and Vance's "offensive statements" promoted "harmful stereotypes" and called on them to "engage in meaningful dialogue to address the harm caused". People in Haiti also condemned the baseless claims.

According to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Trump's amplification of the falsehood is a strategy to keep people talking about "the latest crazy thing that [Trump] did" because "he cannot afford for us to be talking about his record (...) or his agenda", or Vance's ideas; a distraction technique that is "not harmless". Buttigieg linked it to other recent actions by Trump, such as inviting Loomer to a memorial ceremony for the September 11 attacks when she had previously spread conspiracy theories about the attacks.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned Trump and Vance, saying that when they "intentionally distribute incredibly malicious and disgusting claims like about eating pets, etc", they put people at risk of violence. After bomb threats explicitly mentioning the hoax prompted evacuations throughout Springfield, Hawaii senator Brian Schatz accused Trump of engaging in "racist stochastic terrorism".

Mayor Rob Rue criticized Trump-Vance for spreading false rumors that unfairly targeted Haitian Americans. Local faith leaders have reached out to the Haitian community, letting them know that they are loved, while calling on Trump to retract his attacks and on Biden to provide additional resources to the city. Some Springfield residents are demonstrating solidarity in other ways, such as volunteering at the weekly English classes at the local First Evangelical Haitian Church.

According to MSNBC host Ana Cabrera, Trump is looking to strategically plant the seeds for a second-term immigration agenda, which would include the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants. Cabrera also said Trump is attempting to establish these American immigrants as the "other" – as people who are lesser than, despite the fact that Haitians, who are in Springfield legally, have played an important role in revitalizing Springfield's economy, reversing population decline and filling labor gaps there. According to NPR, citing a Stanford University study, Trump's pet-eating comments follow a trend of Republican Party messaging on immigration getting "more vitriolic".

False claims about immigrants stealing and eating household pets date back more than a century in the United States. In the late 19th century, around the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act, it was among several racist stereotypes and slurs used to demonize immigrants from Asia. Professor of Sociology Anthony Ocampo told The Guardian that the trope is "low-hanging fruit to rally xenophobia in a very quick way", making it "easier to scapegoat or enact harmful laws against" a community characterized as "savage or uncivilized". According to The Washington Post, "the goal in spreading such stereotypes is to portray newcomers as unfit for American society or invoke disgust toward them".

South African satirical music creator The Kiffness released a song parodying the hoax, titled "Eating the cats ft. Donald Trump (Debate Remix)", which quickly went viral. Dances based on the song became viral on TikTok, which led right-wing personalities like Charlie Kirk to characterize the song as sincere support for Trump among members of Generation Z.

• Eurabia conspiracy theory – Far-right Islamophobic conspiracy theory
• Great Replacement – Conspiracy theory about race and culture
• White genocide conspiracy theory – White supremacist conspiracy theory
• Voodoo in popular culture − Haitian Vodou
• Cat meat − Consumption of cat meat in various countries