False Pet-Eating Claims Cause Internet Frenzy

Springfield News-Sun photo

A false Republican talking point is causing chaos in the small city of Springfield, Ohio.

The Wall Street Journal reports the city of 59,000 outside Columbus has faced a torrent of bomb threats and unwanted attention since former President Donald Trump repeated the claim this week that immigrants there were eating pets. Springfield has evacuated schools and temporarily closed its city hall. City officials have repeatedly debunked the pet-eating claim and are trying to spread the word that pets are safe in Springfield.

The far-right has portrayed Springfield as a city overrun by Haitian migrants snatching dogs, cats and ducks. The city has no credible reports of pets being taken and eaten, said Springfield Mayor Rob Rue. He said it has been frustrating to watch politicians spread the false rumor.

The Springfield News-Sun reports there have been two reports this year of people believed to be Haitian grabbing geese and ducks from Snyder Park in Springfield, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. “Upon follow-up, no supporting evidence was found of wildlife being illegally removed from the park in either case,” according to a statement from ODNR.

The pet-eating conspiracy spread through the far-right corner of the internet. Ohio Republicans including Sen. JD Vance and Rep. Jim Jordan posted about it on social media. A city once best known as a former manufacturing town was now a poster child for anti-immigration.

At the presidential debate this week, before more than 67 million viewers, Trump said, “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.”

NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation, said the rumor was started by a woman on Facebook who cited a neighbor’s third-hand account of a cat getting carved up to be eaten outside a home where Haitians lived. The post didn’t say who was handling the cat.

The talk about pets has reached a frenzy. In the three days since the debate, there were more than 1.1 million posts on X, formerly Twitter, about pets being eaten, according to PeakMetrics, a company that tracks online discussions. Elon Musk has posted about it. Trump posted about cats and ducks being eaten. Vance has repeatedly talked about Springfield.

Some Democrats have poked fun at the absurdity of it all. Others have highlighted the toll the conspiracy has taken on Haitians in Springfield.