Does an audio recording of a call to authorities in Springfield, Ohio, confirm that Haitians were hunting geese in Ohio illegally? No, that's not true: An investigation by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources didn't find any evidence of wildlife illegally removed from a park. "No supporting evidence to verify the claim was found," the Ohio Department said in a statement.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by The Federalist on September 10, 2024, titled "Exclusive: Police Audio Confirms Haitian Goose Hunting In Ohio: 'They All Had Geese In Their Hands.'" It began:
A caller reported to police a group of Haitian migrants carrying four geese in Springfield, Ohio in exclusive audio.
This is how the article appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: thefederalist.com screenshot taken on Mon Sep 16 15:24:21 2024 UTC)
The photo of four domestic geese (pictured in the above screenshot) is a stock photo unrelated to the purported incident in Springfield, Ohio, in 2024 -- it was published on Pixabay on September 17, 2021.
The article headline implies that the audio recording of a call made to the Clark County sheriff's department non-emergency line on August 26, 2024, confirms that the caller's report was accurate. While the audio confirms that a call was made, it does not prove that what was reported truly happened. A recording of the call embedded in the article is hosted on The Federalist's Rumble account (archived here). Also included in the article was the "call detail report" (archived here) from the Clark County Communications Center.
The caller stated that four Haitian people, two men and two women, were each carrying a goose and got into a gray Toyota Tacoma near the intersection of Warder and Water streets in Springfield, Ohio. The caller did not specify if the geese being carried were alive or dead, domestic or wild.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is the law enforcement agency that investigates wildlife violations such as hunting birds out of season or hunting without a license. According to the 2024-25 waterfowl season dates listed on page 5 of this ODNR publication titled "Ohio Hunting And Trapping Regulations 2024-25," September 7, 2024, was the earliest date geese (Canada geese specifically) could be hunted legally in Ohio.
Lead Stories contacted ODNR to see if the incident had been investigated. On September 16, 2024, Karina Cheung, media and outreach specialist with ODNR, replied with this statement and PDF documents of the incident reports (PDF report of the August 26, 2024, incident here):
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife has a dedicated wildlife officer assigned to Clark County who routinely monitors Snyder Park in Springfield because it is a popular fishing area. That Wildlife Officer received calls on two separate occasions from people who reported witnessing individuals of Haitian descent taking waterfowl out of Snyder Park. Upon follow-up, no supporting evidence was found of wildlife being illegally removed from the park in either case.
The first incident was reported on March 27, and the caller claimed they saw three people grab a live duck and goose, place them in a trash bag, and drive away. The officer monitored the area and did not find any evidence of a crime. The second incident was reported to ODNR by the Clark County Sheriff's Office on August 26 with an initial report of two men and two women all carrying geese from the area. The officer was initially unable to reach the witness but later made contact. No supporting evidence to verify the claim was found.
Other fact check agencies have also reviewed this claim, including PolitiFact and Snopes.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims associated with Springfield, Ohio, can be found here.
