One of the most notable moments during the first presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday had nothing to do with records or policy. Instead, it focused on a single, eye-popping claim: “They’re eating the cats.”
That’s what Trump said, seemingly unprompted, after Harris claimed that people left his rallies because they were bored. Considering that it’s well-known how sensitive Trump is about crowd sizes, Harris’ intention seems to have been to get under his skin. It worked, leading Trump to suddenly veer into the topic of illegal immigration and mention a popular conspiracy theory in Republican circles.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs—the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating—they're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame," he said.
But there’s no truth to Trump’s claim, which was previously given steam on X by Elon Musk, Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, and even the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee. Here’s what we know.
The birth of a conspiracy theory. While the exact date that the conspiracy theory popped up isn’t clear, it appears to have started to gain traction last week. As reported by the Associated Press, on Sept. 6, an X account called @EndWokeness insinuated that the Haitian migrants that arrived in Springfield, Ohio in recent years were behind the reportedly torrid things happening to wildlife and pets.
“Springfield is a small town in Ohio. 4 years ago, they had 60k residents. Under Harris and Biden, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were shipped to the town,” the account, which has 2.4 million followers, stated in a post. “Now ducks and pets are disappearing.”
As purported evidence, @EndWokeness included a screenshot of a post by a woman who was warning others in Springfield of what happened to the cat of her neighbor’s daughter’s friend. According to the post, the pet owner had lost her cat and was carrying out a search for it. After looking in groups and kennels and asking around, the woman said the girl came home one day and saw the cat hanging from a branch in front of the home of Haitian immigrants carved out to eat. She went on to say that immigrants were purported also doing the same to ducks and geese in the park.
It’s not clear whether there’s any truth to the screenshotted post, especially since the person who wrote it didn’t have first-hand knowledge of the event.
Catching fire. A conspiracy theory that might have stayed in one corner of the Internet quickly caught fire in recent days after being picked up by Kirk, the Turning Point USA co-founder, who included the same screenshotted post mentioned above about the neighbor’s daughter’s friend when he spoke about the event.
“Save our pets, secure our borders,” Kirk said on X on Sept. 8.
Musk chimed in with a response: “Apparently, people’s pet cats are being eaten.”
The conspiracy theory quickly reached the ears of politicians, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posting a meme of two cats on Sept. 9 with the text: “Vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.” The Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee followed suit, posting an AI-generated image of Trump hugging a cat and a duck.
Vance, Trump’s running mate, added fuel to the fire that same day: “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?”
Notably, Vance said on Tuesday that there was a chance the cat-eating claims weren’t true.
“It's possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” he said.
Officials in Springfield respond to the conspiracy theory. Local authorities have taken pains to address the viral conspiracy theory in recent days. On Monday, the Springfield Police Department told the Springfield News-Sun that they had received no reports about any pets being stolen and eaten.
Police added that they were aware of the social media post that started the scandal but that it was “not something that’s on our radar right now.”
On Wednesday, Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck also debunked the conspiracy theory in a statement to the Associated Press.
“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,” Heck said.
The other case in Canton, Ohio. To be clear, there was an incident of animal cruelty in Ohio in August, but it didn’t happen in Springfield and has nothing to do with the immigrant community in the state.
The event took place in Canton, a city about 175 miles from Springfield. According to a police report obtained by the Associated Press, 27-year-old Allexis Ferrell tortured, killed, and ate a cat in front of multiple people.
Ferrell is not Haitian. She was born in Ohio and has had run-ins the law since 2017. The woman is currently in jail.
The AI-generated image shared by Trump on Instagram. Click on the photo to go to the post.
The impact is no laughing matter. Although the conspiracy theory has led to creation of numerous AI-generated images, including one shared by Trump himself, memes, and even songs on TikTok, it’s no laughing matter. There are people out there who believe conspiracy theories like this one and ultimately decide to take matters into their own hands.
Take, for example, the aftermath of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory in 2016, which falsely stated that former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of a pizza shop with other Democrats. In response to the conspiracy theory, a man showed up at the alleged pizza restaurant with guns to investigate the incident. While no one was hurt in this case, that can’t be said for others.
White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby called the conspiracy theory promoted by Trump, Vance, and other Republicans a racist effort to divide people, adding that it could have dangerous results.
"This kind of language, this kind of disinformation is dangerous because there will be people that believe it no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is, and they might act on that kind of information and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt," Kirby said. "It needs to stop."
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