Claims made by former US President Donald Trump that immigrants in an Ohio town are eating the pets of other residents have been dismissed as false.
The claims were immediately fact-checked by moderators during last night's presidential debate between Mr Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
"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," Mr Trump claimed.
"And this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
When ABC's debate moderator David Muir responded saying they had reached out to the city manager who disputed the claims, Mr Trump said: "I've seen people on television… the people on television say 'my dog was taken and used for food', so maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager."
Vice-President Harris, who could be seen laughing and saying "this is unbelievable", responded when it was her turn: "Talk about extreme."
Mr Trump's running mate JD Vance, who had already tweeted about the claims on Monday, defended the Republican presidential candidate's comments after the debate, saying: "No one has spread false claims."
Split-screen image shows Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (left) and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris during an ABC News presidential debate in Philadelphia, 10-9-24. Image: Associated Press / AlamyHe went on to reiterate he'd spoken to residents who had seen geese being taken out of local ponds and slaughtered.
The Springfield Police Division said in a statement that they were aware of the "rumours" and had no information to support them.
"In response to recent rumours 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," the police said.
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue also said on Tuesday there were no documented cases of immigrants eating pets.
Speaking from Springfield, WCPO 9 News reporter Valerie Lyons told The Hard Shoulder the claim is not true.
"Repeatedly local law enforcement here and city leadership have shut down those claims," she said.
"I checked with them in the past few minutes and again they echo that they don't have any reports or anything like that to confirm that Haitian immigrants are killing or eating pets.
"As far as that claim goes that's not true".
Origins
Ms Lyons said a number of factors have come together to create the false rumour.
"There is a video that came out of Ohio on Friday, 150 miles away from Springfield, of a woman who was charged with cruelty to animals for killing and eating a cat," she said.
"That was nowhere near Springfield."
Ms Lyons said a temporary asylum programme has also seen an influx of Haitian immigrants to the area.
"In that time since 2020 there's been a massive influx - the Governor of Ohio actually announced yesterday that's estimated to be about 15,000 people," she said.
"The population here is only around 59,000, so that garnered a lot of tension and debate with the residents here.
"When these videos started going viral on social media a lot of that was localised."
Ms Lyons said a woman claimed in a Facebook community group that "her daughter's cat had been stolen and they found that cat hanging from a tree in her neighbour's yard who is a Haitian immigrant".
She added that debate around immigrant numbers is garnering reaction "from both sides of the aisle".
