How Trump's claims of immigrants eating pets started and spiralled online
An American woman charged with animal abuse, an old photo of a man with a goose, and an 11-year-old boy's death have all been caught up in the swirl of unverified rumours about Haitian people eating pets, amplified by Donald Trump at this week's presidential debate.
Friday 13 September 2024 06:44, UK
Fifty-five miles from Springfield, Ohio, a man was pictured walking down the road holding a goose.
Meanwhile, 170 miles from Springfield, a "lifelong resident" of another town in the US state was arrested for allegedly killing and eating a cat.
And at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, 514 miles from Springfield, Donald Trump claimed Haitian migrants were "eating the pets" of the Ohio town's residents.
Sky News has tracked how an unverified rumour spread online, taking in unrelated incidents and half-truths, repackaged and amplified on social media.
A community meeting
The first mention of claims of Haitian migrants eating animals appears to have been made at a community meeting on 27 August.
Local Springfield resident Anthony Harris, a man describing himself as a social media influencer, said immigrants were in the park grabbing ducks by their necks, cutting their heads off and walking off with them to "eat them".
He did not provide evidence to support his claim.
A private Facebook post goes viral
A post on a local Facebook crime-watch group made a similar claim.
The poster told a fourth-hand story about her "neighbour's daughter's friend", whose cat had allegedly been strung up from a tree and slaughtered for food outside a house where Haitian people lived.
Again, no evidence was provided for either the death of the animal or the nationality of the people allegedly involved.
But the post was screenshotted and went viral on social media, with the rumour picked up by X owner Elon Musk, Texas senator Ted Cruz, Conservative pundit Charlie Kirk and right-wing activist Jack Posobiec.
Musk shared multiple posts about the claims, including what appeared to be an AI image of a kitten and a duckling with the caption "Save them!".
Data from social media monitoring tool Talkwalker shows posts on X mentioning both pets and Haitians began to gain traction on 6 September, which appears to be when the Facebook post was first shared.
Mentions spiked on 9 September, coinciding with Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance posting on X about reports of people having pets "abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country".
He doubled down on this the next day with a post about "actual residents of Springfield" contacting his office saying "their neighbours' pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants".
Posts peaked that day as Republican candidate Mr Trump repeated the claims in Tuesday evening's presidential debate.
In the last week, there have been more than 810,000 posts on X mentioning both pets and Haitians, which have been engaged with almost six million times.
Posts mentioning pets and Springfield add another 500,000 posts with more than four million engagements.
Months-old Reddit post used to fuel rumours
One of the most influential posts came from the X account End Wokeness, which posted a screenshot of the Facebook group post alongside a photo of a man carrying a goose.
The post claimed 20,000 immigrants had arrived in the city under the Biden administration, and "now ducks and pets are disappearing".
It was reposted 20,000 times and gained almost five million views.
But the photo was not taken in Springfield. Sky News has geolocated the photo to Cleveland Avenue in the state capital of Columbus, 55 miles away.
It was posted on Reddit two months ago. The person who took the photo told ABC News he was surprised to see his image used to "push false narratives".
The image has subsequently been used by media outlets promoting claims of animals being taken and eaten.
Bodycam shows woman arrested over animals - but she's not Haitian
Some social media posts use bodycam footage of a woman's arrest for allegedly killing and eating a cat to support the online narratives.
But that happened 170 miles away in Canton, Ohio.
However, Canton police spokesperson Dennis Garren confirmed the suspect in the case is "not a Haitian immigrant" but a "lifelong Canton resident".
The graphic video shows Allexis Telia Ferrell, who allegedly killed and ate a cat, being arrested on 16 August.
Stark County Commons Pleas Court records for Ferrell show she was charged with cruelty to companion animals.
Narratives 'skewed by misinformation'
Mr Trump's claims at the debate were immediately challenged by the moderator David Muir, who said Springfield city manager Bryan Heck disputed the claims.
Mr Heck gave a news conference on Wednesday, saying "narratives around our city have been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified by political rhetoric".
Springfield Police Division also said they had received no reports related to pets being stolen and eaten.
"In response to recent rumours alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community," the police said in a statement emailed to Sky News' US partner NBC News.
Ohio's Republican governor Mike DeWine also weighed in to say the claims were based on rumour.
Read more from Sky News:
Trump's pet-eating debate moment the talk of the town
How body language spoke as loudly as words in presidential debate
How an 11-year-old's death became part of the story
While most of this happened in the last week, it's also worth looking back to August 2023, when 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed in a crash between a school bus and a minivan driven by a Haitian man without a licence.
About 15,000 Haitians have moved to Springfield in the past few years and the community now makes up 15% of the city's population. But the swelling population hasn't come without tension, and Aiden's death was a flashpoint.
It was seized on by both Mr Vance and the Trump campaign this week.
On Monday, an account linked to the Trump campaign posted about Aiden on X.
The following day, Mr Vance repeated the claims about pets being eaten by Haitian migrants, with the caveat it was "possible" the rumours "will turn out to be false".
But what was "confirmed", he added, was "that a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here".
Aiden's father, Nathan Clark, responded to this during a Springfield city commission meeting on Tuesday in Springfield, saying his son was "not murdered" but "was accidentally killed".
He said politicians have "used [Aiden's] death for political gain" adding "this needs to stop now".
"They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members. However they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio," he said.
What Donald Trump and JD Vance have said
After the debate, Mr Vance defended Mr Trump, saying: "No one has spread false claims."
Mr Vance, who is a senator for Ohio, added the Haitian community had "caused a lot of problems" in the area.
"It's led to animals disappearing," he said. "Many of my constituents have said that has been happening.
"The city manager said there's no verifiable evidence. A lot of residents on the ground have said there is. That just means the city manager, I think, isn't in touch with what's going on on the ground there."
He went on to reiterate he'd spoken to residents who had seen geese being taken out of local ponds and slaughtered.
Mr Vance did not respond to Sky News' request for comment.
In an emailed statement to Sky News, Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign national press secretary, said "the stories of the very real suffering and tragedies experienced by the people of Springfield, Ohio… have been largely ignored by the liberal mainstream media until now".
Mr Trump "will continue giving a voice to Americans who are expressing their concerns about the influx of illegals and rising migrant crime in their communities", she added.