Claim: A video shows a Haitian woman being arrested for eating a cat in Canton, Ohio. Another image from Springfield, Ohio shows a man walking while holding two ducks; this picture is evidence of Haitian immigrants stealing and eating ducks.
Fact: The woman is not a Haitian immigrant. She is a resident of Canton, Ohio. The image of the man is not from Springfield but from Columbus, Ohio.
Around 9 September, claims that a Haitian immigrant stole and ate a pet cat went viral on social media. One X (formerly Twitter) user reposted (archive) a video of police officers arresting and questioning a woman about killing and eating a cat. The woman remains silent throughout the video. The caption of the post claims that the woman is a Haitian immigrant, as can be seen in the screenshot below.
The caption of the original post (archive) that shared the video reads, “Black woman eats the neighbours cat on driveway.”
On 7 September, an image with a similar claim about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio stealing and eating residents’ pets went viral on X as well. The picture allegedly shows a Haitian immigrant in Springfield, Ohio walking with two ducks in his hand.
Initially posted (archive) on X by @EndWokeness, the image was accompanied by a screenshot of a post from a Facebook group of Springfield residents. This post claimed that a missing pet cat was found hanging from a branch in a house belonging to Haitian immigrants. According to the Springfield police and Rangers, Haitian immigrants had been doing the same to ducks and geese at Snyder Park, the post added.
This accompanying screenshot, as well as the caption of the X post, imply that the image of the man carrying the ducks similarly shows a Haitian immigrant abducting or stealing pets.
Several social media users have reposted this claim by @EndWokeness as evidence of Haitian immigrants stealing and eating ducks in Springfield, Ohio. These can be seen here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
Anti-Immigrant Claims Surface Amid US Presidential Race 2024
The video and image are a part of the ongoing narrative of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio stealing and eating the local cats, ducks, and dogs amid the presidential elections in the United States.
Seeing the influx of Haitian immigrants as the fault of the Biden administration, Trump supporters took to posting AI generated images of the Republican candidate saving cats and ducks. These can be seen here (archive) and here (archive). Popular supporters of Trump, such as CEO of X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk also reposted (archive) the image of Trump.
Republican senator Ted Cruz posted a meme (archive) related to the incidents of alleged animal abuse by Haitian immigrants in Ohio. Moreover, vice presidential nominee JD Vance posted (archive) on X, claiming that “Reports” show people having had their pets “abducted and eaten” in Springfield, Ohio.
During the US presidential debate on 10 September, Donald Trump also claimed (archive) that he had seen people on television saying, “my dog was taken and used for food.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found that the woman in the video is not Haitian, and is, in fact, a US citizen. A number of news sources like Reuters (archive), Lead Stories (archive), CBS News (archive), Times Now (archive), and the New York Post (archive) have confirmed her identity as Allexis Telia Ferrell, a 27-year-old woman from Canton, Ohio.
Reuters corresponded with the police spokesperson of Canton, Ohio, Dennis Garren, who was quoted as saying, “The suspect in this case is not a Haitian immigrant,” “She is a life long Canton resident.” The news sources above also confirmed that the woman was not Haitian, adding that the incident took place in Canton, Ohio and not Springfield.
While verifying the second claim, Soch Fact Check found that the image of the man with two ducks in hand is from the town of Columbus, Ohio and not Springfield. It appears to have originated from a Reddit page called r/Columbus (archive), which posts material related to the city of Columbus, Ohio. According to its bio, the page posts about, “Events, get togethers, and suggestions on what to see and do in Columbus, Ohio!” The picture of the man was posted (archive) on 28 July 2024 and is shown below:
As stated above, social media users portrayed this image as being taken in Springfield, Ohio. However, a recent post (archive) on the sameaccount disputed this claim, as seen below:
The Columbus Dispatch (archive) also confirmed that a “Google Street View of the photo’s background shows the photo was taken in Columbus, and not Springfield.” Columbus is a city that is approximately 50 miles from Springfield. In a phone interview with The Columbus Dispatch, the Reddit poster said:
“Then all of (these claims) supposedly they’re going and killing all of the wildlife and whatever. That’s ridiculous. But people see things that are spread and have no idea what the truth is, but they spread it like it’s truth. And I feel like the only person that knows what really happened to the goose is the guy that had the goose”.
The Daily Dot (archive) spoke to the Reddit user as well and claimed, “The redditor also noted that there’s no evidence whatsoever tying the man he photographed to Haiti, or evidence that he planned to eat the goose.”
While Soch Fact Check could not independently verify the identity of the man in the photograph, there is no evidence to support the claim that he is an Haitian immigrant. We can confirm, however, that the image does not show a resident from the town of Springfield, Ohio.
Furthermore, to verify rumours about Haitian immigrants abducting pets, we found an article in the Springfield News-Sun (archive) which reported that the Springfield Police Division has “received no reports related to pets being stolen and eaten.”
In fact, when Donald Trump claimed (archive) that he had seen people on television say that their dogs were abducted and eaten, during the recent presidential debate on 10 September, his statement was fact-checked by the moderator on the spot. According to the debate moderator, when ABC News had reached out to the City Manager of Springfield, Ohio, they reportedly said that “there had been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
Virality
The post (archive)on X about the woman being arrested for eating a cat has 969.4K views.
The post (archive) on X about the image of the man holding ducks by @EndWokeness has gathered 4.8 million views, along with 20K reposts.
Elon Musk’s post of an AI image of Donald Trump embracing a duck and cat has reached 83.4 million views.
Conclusion: The woman who was arrested and charged for cruelty to animals in August is not a Haitian immigrant, and the event took place in Canton, Ohio. Moreover, there is no evidence to support the claim that the image of a man carrying ducks shows a Haitian immigrant abducting pets. In fact, the photo is from the town of Columbus, Ohio and not Springfield. According to credible news reports, the police and City Manager of Springfield have confirmed that they did not receive any reports of Haitian immigrants stealing or eating pets.
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Background image in cover photo: @riley1999
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