This article is part of The Globe’s initiative to cover dis- and misinformation. E-mail us to share tips or feedback at disinfodesk@globeandmail.com.
An image of a Black man carrying a bird has been used to support baseless claims about immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. We used a reverse image search to find where the image first came from and looked at how the claim about pets entered the mainstream, generating millions of views.
The original image was shot in Columbus, Ohio, and first posted online to the Columbus Subreddit on July 28 with the title “Things you see while driving in CBUS.” The original post didn’t make any claims or add further context about why the man was carrying the bird, but some comments on the post suggested it was going to be eaten.
Screenshot of a Reddit post which is the first instance The Globe could find of the image of a Black man and dead bird being posted online.Reddit
A post to the private Facebook group Springfield Ohio Crime & Information claimed that the friend of a neighbour’s daughter saw her missing cat hanging dead outside a home said to be occupied by Haitians. The post offered no evidence to support the claims. The Globe was not able to join the Facebook group but screenshots of the post include a logo that matches the group’s. We are not directly linking to these posts so they are not amplified.
Screenshot of a post to a private Facebook group for crime in Springfield, Ohio, that appears to be the first claim about animals being taken by immigrants.Facebook
A post on Facebook on Aug. 26 claimed that a co-worker’s brother-in-law in Springfield saw geese being taken from a park. The post offered no evidence to support the claim, but it did tag local resident Anthony Harris on Facebook.
Screenshot of an Aug. 26 Facebook post claiming people were taking birds from a Springfield park.
Mr. Harris, who identified himself as a 28-year-old social media influencer, spoke at an Aug. 27 Springfield City Commission meeting where he said immigrants were taking ducks from a park, killing them and eating them. He offered no evidence for the claims. The majority of his comments were about what he said was poor driving by Haitian immigrants, a lack of police enforcement and claims about government support that immigrants receive.
Anthony Harris speaks at a Springfield City Commission meeting on Aug. 27 where he made claims about Haitian immigrants taking birds from a park but offered no evidence.
Screenshots of a police activity report from Aug. 26 have been used to support the claims. The police report is based on a non-emergency call to Clark County, where the caller claims four people had a goose each. The caller was unable to give a full licence plate number for their vehicle nor were they able to photograph them. However, the caller said he knew they were Haitian because he was close enough to hear them speak Haitian Creole.
Another page of the police report says an officer visited a scene connected to the report for 11 minutes for a larceny complaint but adds no detail to what they saw.
Screenshot of a post on X of a police activity report of a call about people taking geese. The caller doesn't give identifying information about the people they claim to have taken the birds.X
The End Wokeness account on X on Sept. 6 shared a screenshot of the post from the Springfield Ohio Crime & Information Facebook group with the image from Reddit, apparently linking the two.
Screenshot of a post to X combining a Facebook post and the image from Reddit to repeat the claim about animals being taken.X
The Gateway Pundit, a far-right media outlet, embedded the End Wokeness X post and used the image from Reddit in a story on Sept. 8, repeating claims about eating pets but adding no evidence.
Screenshot of a post to X by Elon Musk, reposted by J.D. Vance, of Anthony Harris speaking at the Springfield City Commission meeting.X
Elon Musk posted the clip of Anthony Harris to X on Sep. 9, which vice-presidential candidate and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance reposted the morning of Sept. 10.
Also on Sept. 10, The New York Times and NPR published stories debunking the pet-eating claims, with NPR reporting that local police called them baseless.
On Sept. 10 at around 8 p.m. ET, Donald Trump Jr.’s official X account shared the audio of the non-emergency call to police, claiming it was a 911 call, and used an apparently AI-generated image of Donald Trump with ducks over the audio. Mr. Trump Jr.’s account also shared screenshots of the police report based on the non-emergency call, detailed earlier in this story.
Screenshot of a post to X by Donald Trump Jr.'s account sharing audio of the non-emergency call claiming people had taken geese.X
During the presidential debate with Kamala Harris later on Sept. 10, Donald Trump repeated the claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets, which an ABC News moderator fact-checked.
Donald Trump repeated a false claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets during the presidential debate with Kamala Harris. The claim originated in anecdotes posted on social media that were fact-checked by an ABC News moderator, with other media reporting that local police called the claims baseless.
After the debate, CNN challenged Mr. Vance on the claims where he pivoted to the impact he said an influx of Haitian immigrants was having on the Springfield community.
The Springfield News-Sun on Sept. 11 published a story headlined “County: No evidence of August claim that Haitians took geese at Springfield park.” The story stated: “Clark County Commissioner Sasha Rittenhouse said Wednesday morning that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was unable to find any merit to the claim. ‘No videos have surfaced, no pictures have surfaced, no dead geese have surfaced; there’s nothing to substantiate that it’s happening,’ Rittenhouse said.”
An entirely unrelated incident occurred in Canton, Ohio, that was erroneously conflated into the issue. On Aug. 26, Canton police charged a 27-year-old woman with animal cruelty and disorderly conduct after she “did torture, kill, and eat a cat in a residential area in front (of) multiple people,” according to a police report.
But Allexis Ferrell is not Haitian. She was born in Ohio and graduated from Canton’s McKinley High School in 2015, according to public records and newspaper reports. Court records show she has been in and out of trouble with the law since at least 2017. Messages seeking comment were not returned by several attorneys who have represented her.
The Republican governor of Ohio said he will send state troopers to Springfield to help local law enforcement deal with traffic issues and is earmarking $2.5-million over two years to provide more primary health care to immigrant families.
With a report by The Associated Press
Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio, said they and others in their community fear for their safety after Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance spread on social media a false and derogatory claim about immigrants abducting and eating people's pets.
Reuters