Andrea Cavallier and James Liddell
Sat, September 14, 2024
This viral photo of a man carrying two geese in Ohio fueled Donald Trump’s wild, now-debunked conspiracy that Haitian migrants are eating pets in the state (isitmeyourelooking4x/Reddit)
A viral photo of a man carrying two geese in Ohio fueled Donald Trump’s wild, now-debunked conspiracy that Haitian migrants are eating pets in the state – but turns out it was a wild goose chase.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife told TMZ that the man was picking up the two geese that had been hit by a car in Columbus, which is about 45 minutes from Springfield, where Trump had previously claimed that migrants were chowing down on the birds.
In order to collect a carcass, people need documentation from a county sheriff or wildlife officer, the wildlife organization explained, but according to the Franklin County Wildlife Office, this is not required for geese, meaning the man had a right to them.
TMZ reported that there is no evidence that the man is Haitian, an immigrant or that he even intended to eat the geese.
At a rally in Tucson, Arizona, this week, Trump dragged geese into his narrative.
“A recording of 911 calls show that residents are reporting that the migrants are walking off with the town’s geese,” Trump said.
“They’re taking the geese. You know where the geese are? In the park, in the lake. And even walking off with their pets.”
Trump once again offered no evidence to support his claims.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife told TMZ that the man was picking up the two geese that had been hit by a car in Columbus, which is about 45 minutes from Springfield (isitmeyourelooking4x/Reddit)
The claims about geese come just days after the former president wildly pushed the false narrative about Haitian migrants eating pets as he faced off against Kamala Harris on stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday for their first – and likely only – presidential debate.
Local authorities had already debunked the lies even before Trump peddled the narrative on the debate stage, with Springfield police saying there is no credible evidence to support the allegations.
“They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said on Tuesday as Harris’s expression flitted between shock and amusement.
Haitian refugees in Springfield, Ohio say Donald Trump’s inflammatory claims earlier this week while debating VP Kamala Harris have helped create a terrifying day-to-day reality for them (AP)
“Extreme,” the vice president quipped in response, as 67 million ABC viewers watched on television.
The rumors stemmed from a bizarre anecdote posted by Springfield local Erika Lee on a local Facebook group, where she alleged that a cat owner found her dead pet hanging from the tree ready to be skinned, butchered and eaten in a house said to be occupied by Haitian immigrants.
Lee has since told NewsGuard that it was a tale that she heard fourth-hand, coming from a neighbor’s friend’s daughter – whom she had never met.
Photo of man holding dead goose not taken in Springfield, Ohio | Fact check
Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
Fri, September 13, 2024
The claim: Image shows Haitian migrant carrying dead goose in Springfield, Ohio
A Sept. 9 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) shows a man walking down a sidewalk holding a dead goose.
"Report: Springfield Ohio residents are warning their pets and wildlife like ducks and geese are being eaten by Haitians," reads text within the post, which was originally shared on X, formerly Twitter. "One neighbor said she saw her cat being carved up by the Haitians. Another neighbor said a police officer told her this is happening to dogs, ducks and geese."
The post was shared more than 800 times in four days. Other versions of the claim were shared on Facebook and Instagram.
More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page
Our rating: False
The photo was captured in July in Columbus, Ohio, not Springfield. There are no credible reports of animals being harmed by Haitian migrants in either city.
Dead goose photo not captured in Springfield
The town of Springfield, Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight when former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance claimed Haitian migrants were eating their neighbors' pets and local wildlife. About 15,000-20,000 Haitians have moved to the city in recent years and are living there legally under a humanitarian parole program to escape gang violence and environmental disasters back home, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
As USA TODAY has reported, there is no credible evidence Haitian migrants have done what Vance and Trump claimed.
And the photo shown in the post wasn't captured in Springfield.
The picture was originally shared on a Columbus subreddit on July 28 with the caption, "Things you see while driving in CBUS." The photo's background matches a Google Street View of Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, which is located more than 50 miles from Springfield.
Fact check: No, Haitian migrants aren’t ‘decapitating ducks’ in Springfield, Ohio
The user who shared the picture told The Columbus Dispatch he shared the photo because it wasn't "something you see every day" but regretted taking it now that it was "being weaponized to use against immigrants."
There have been no credible reports on the circumstances behind the photo or the origin of the man in it. USA TODAY reached out to the Columbus Police Department but didn't immediately receive a response.
Karen Graves, a Springfield city spokesperson, previously told USA TODAY that city officials “have not received any substantiated reports of duck mutilation," and City Manager Bryan Heck said in a statement, “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community."
A recording of a call to dispatchers in Ohio’s Clark County – where Springfield is located – and a “call detail report” circulating on social media indicate that on Aug. 26 a man reported seeing four Haitian migrants taking geese. But the report doesn't say whether the geese were dead or alive or if police ever found the geese or the group of Haitians.
Clark County Commissioner Sasha Rittenhouse said at a Sept. 11 meeting that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was unable to find any evidence to back up the claim, according to the Springfield News-Sun.
"No videos have surfaced, no pictures have surfaced, no dead geese have surfaced; there’s nothing to substantiate that it’s happening," Rittenhouse said.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories and Snopes also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
USA TODAY, Sept. 12, No, Haitian migrants aren’t ‘decapitating ducks’ in Springfield, Ohio | Fact check
USA TODAY, Sept. 11, ‘They’re eating the dogs’: Trump echoes false anti-immigrant rumor during debate
Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 11, Columbus man regrets taking goose photo he says is being weaponized against immigrants
Isitmeyourelooking4x, July 28, Reddit post
Google Street View, accessed Sept. 12, 4760 Cleveland Avenue
Springfield News-Sun, Sept. 11, County: No evidence of August claim that Haitians took geese at Springfield park
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photo of man holding goose not taken in Springfield, Ohio | Fact check
Fact Check: No, 'Police Audio' Doesn't Confirm Reports of 'Haitian Goose-Hunting' in Springfield, Ohio
Alex Kasprak
Fri, September 13, 2024
x.com / The Federalist
Claim:
Police audio confirmed reports of Haitians hunting geese in Springfield, Ohio, in 2024.
Rating:
Rating: False
Context:
A call to the Clark County Sheriff's Department regarding four alleged Haitians carrying dead geese would not be confirmation of "Haitian goose-hunting," even if verified. Regardless, authorities could not verify the complaint's claims.
The claim promoted by 2024 Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sep. 10, 2024, that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating pets is entirely unfounded, as Snopes previously reported.
Later reporting revealed it was based on third-hand information posted to a private Facebook group by someone who later admitted, "I'm not sure I'm the most credible source."
That Facebook post, shared by Trump's vice-presidential running mate JD Vance, combined pet-based allegations with claims that the Haitian community was "hunting" waterfowl in a public parks.
A viral video of podcaster and Springfield resident Anthony Harris speaking at an Aug. 27, 2024, Springfield City Commission meeting made reference to this as well. "They're in the park, grabbing up ducks by the neck and cutting their heads off and eating them," Harris claimed, among other things.
Following Snopes' original fact-check of these claims, conservative outlet The Federalist published what it described as "police audio" that "confirm[ed] Haitian goose-hunting in Ohio."
While this audio is a legitimate recording of a complaint made to the Clark County Sheriff's Department, it is — like any single report made to law enforcement — not a "confirmation" of anything.
The complaint itself did not include a claim of someone witnessing any "hunting," and the sheriff's department, as well as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, were unable to verify the claim or locate the individuals or their alleged connection to the Haitian community.
In this article, Snopes reviews reporting that has uncovered the backstory behind this police complaint and explains why this purported evidence falls significantly short of verifying the inflammatory claims that have led to multiple bomb threats against schools and public buildings in Springfield, Ohio.
The Police Report
The call to police on which The Federalist reported was placed on Aug. 26, 2024 — a day before the meeting in which the viral Anthony Harris video originated. The incident involved a man later identified by journalist Steven Monacelli as someone identifying himself as "Toby", who reported seeing four Haitians returning to the street from a bike path with each of them holding a goose:
CCC: Clark County Communications?
Toby: Yes ma'am. I got a question. This is a non-emergency line, correct?
CCC: Yes it is.
Toby: Okay. I'm sitting here, I'm riding on the trail, going to my orientation for my job today, and I see a group of Haitian people. There was about four of them. They all had geese in their hands. They got away. I couldn't make out the first three of the license plate [...] it was a gray Toyota Tacoma they took off on. There was about four of them. There was two men, two women.
The reported location was near the entrance to a bike path by a river that connects, two miles to the west, with Snyder Park, a location referenced in an early viral posts about Haitians:
Monacelli independently acquired audio and information regarding this complaint, which The Federalist redacted in its own reporting, allowing him enough information to identify and speak with the caller.
In an interview with Monacelli, Toby said he filed the report because he said it was illegal to hunt geese without a permit. "I was just reporting [a potential crime] like anyone else," he told Monacelli.
The Clark County Sheriff's Department told Monacelli that it "had no other information to provide on this call or possible outcomes as this was our only record of the incident."
Local news outlet The Springfield News-Sun reported that law enforcement eventually forwarded the complaint to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), which could not substantiate the claim.
At a county commission's meeting on Sep. 10, 2024, the News-Sun reported, Clark County Commissioner Sasha Rittenhouse said that, "No videos have surfaced, no pictures have surfaced, no dead geese have surfaced; there's nothing to substantiate that it's happening."
[Clark County Commissioner Sasha] Rittenhouse said she rode with an ODNR staffer last Thursday to look into some claims about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating geese and ducks, and learned that nothing came out of the call, with there being no evidence.
At the same meeting, Clark County Sheriff's Office Major Scott Cultice said that "he and another employee at the Clark County Combined Dispatch Center went through 11 months of call records Tuesday to check for reports on these matters, and the Aug. 26 call was the only one he was able to verify that had been made."
What The Police Report Does Not Prove
Though viral videos reference multiple people placing calls about this behavior, Toby's report is the only record of anything approaching the allegations leveled against the Haitian community. Taken at face value, Toby's testimony would provide first-hand evidence only of four individuals carrying dead geese.
The complaint, even if verified, would not provide evidence of "hunting," though. That is a conclusion Toby arrived at on his own. Further, the complaint, even if verified, would not provide evidence of Haitian immigrants being involved. That, too, is a conclusion arrived at by Toby.
The evidence provided by Toby is also a far cry from the rumors that formed on Facebook and spread thanks to amplification by right-wing influencers, Vance, and Trump that Haitians were [butchering] dogs and "doing it at Snyder Park with the ducks & geese." The person who wrote the original Facebook post referencing cat killing said that this Snyder Park information came from "Rangers & police."
It is possible, then, that this portion of the rumor stems in some way from the ODNR ride-along described by Rittenhouse at the Sept. 10 meeting. If that is the case, it would not amount to independent confirmation of the claim, but would instead be a distortion of this same complaint by Toby that led the ODNR — "rangers," perhaps — to look into the matter.
The Bottom Line
The Federalist, Trump, Vance, and an army of other pro-Trump social media influencers, are arguing that this single complaint regarding what may have been a hunting-permit violation "confirms" allegations of "Haitian goose-hunting." Even if everything Toby witnessed was factual, his testimony would not confirm "goose-hunting." It would confirm only that four people were carrying four dead geese away from a river.
Because this unsubstantiated report would not confirm these charges as reported, and because one person's allegations to a non-emergency police line would not on its own constitute evidence of anything, the claim that Toby's report to police "confirms" Haitian geese hunting in Springfield is "False."
Sources:
"County: No Evidence of August Claim That Haitians Took Geese at Springfield Park." Springfield-News-Sun, https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/county-no-evidence-of-august-claim-that-haitians-took-geese-at-springfield-park/NFRGJNURHREGHB32HBC6UKZJWQ/. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.
D'Angelo, Alec. "The Origins of Trump's Ohio Pets Conspiracy." New Lines Magazine, 11 Sept. 2024, https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/the-origins-of-trumps-ohio-pets-conspiracy/.
Justice, Tristan. "Exclusive: Police Audio Confirms Haitian Goose Hunting In Ohio." The Federalist, 11 Sept. 2024, https://thefederalist.com/2024/09/10/exclusive-police-audio-report-confirm-haitian-goose-hunting-in-ohio-they-all-had-geese-in-their-hands/.
Kasprak, Alex. "No Evidence Haitian Immigrants Are Eating Ducks, Geese or Pets in Springfield, Ohio." Snopes, 10 Sept. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/.
---. "Video Footage and News Headlines Don't Document Haitian Immigrant Eating Cat in Springfield, Ohio." Snopes, 12 Sept. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/video-headlines-immigrants-eating-cats/.
NewsGuard. Triple Hearsay: Original Sources of the Claim That Haitians Eat Pets in Ohio Admit No First-Hand Knowledge. https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/origins-haitians-eating-pets-claim. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.
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