STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.

No Reports

Are Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, "kidnapping and eating their neighbors' cats" in 2024? No, that's not true: Springfield police said they had no reports of pets being stolen and eaten. A city official told Lead Stories that there are "no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community."

The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) published on X, formerly Twitter, on September 9, 2024. The video's caption said:

🚨 BREAKING:
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO UPDATE

20,000+ HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS OVERWHELM
TINY OHIO TOWN.

With claims of Haitians kidnapping and eating the neighbors' cats and the federally protected Canadian geese, many Springfield residents are fed up with their new Haitian neighbors who claim they are doing little to nothing to assimilate into the American culture.

I went down there myself to see what was ACTUALLY going on... full documentary coming soon.

This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:

(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Sep 10 16:09:19 2024 UTC)

The post provided nothing to support its statement that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating neighborhood cats, other than saying there were "claims" of such things.

City of Springfield

In a September 9, 2024, email to Lead Stories, Karen Graves, a strategic engagement manager for the City of Springfield, denied a variety of claims related to immigrants in the community. The statement said:

In response to recent rumors 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. Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents' homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.

Similar claims of immigrants purportedly stealing and eating cats in Springfield spread elsewhere on social media, including a September 9, 2024, post on X (archived here) by GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, a Ohio senator. Vance said:

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. Where is our border czar?

A September 9, 2024, article in the Springfield News-Sun (archived here) had this to say about the claims on social media:

The Springfield Police Division said Monday morning they have received no reports related to pets being stolen and eaten.

A social media post originally from a Springfield Facebook group went viral nationally in recent days. The original poster did not cite first-hand knowledge of an incident. Instead they claimed that their neighbor's daughter's friend had lost her cat and found it hanging from a branch at a Haitian neighbor's home being carved up to be eaten.

The poster also claimed 'Rangers' and police told them that 'they have been doing it' at Snyder Park, too, with ducks and geese.

Springfield Police said they were aware of the social media post but that this was 'not something that's on our radar right now.' The post received tens of thousands of impressions.

Read more

At the time this was written, Snopes had reviewed the same claim.

Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about immigrants can be found here.