Police in Dayton, Ohio, have stated there isn’t any proof that immigrants are consuming pets, calling new allegations that emerged on-line on Saturday “irresponsible.”
The police assertion was issued hours after a brand new video and article alleged African immigrants in Dayton have been seen making ready to grill lifeless cats. The declare was shared by Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Donald Trump Jr., and others on X.
Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal stated in a assertion, “We stand by our immigrant neighborhood and there’s no proof to even remotely counsel that any group, together with our immigrant neighborhood, is engaged in consuming pets. Seeing politicians or different people use outlandish data to attraction to their constituents is disheartening.”
The brand new declare adopted baseless allegations that Haitian immigrants have been abducting and consuming pets in Springfield, a metropolis lower than 30 miles from Dayton. Former President Donald Trump repeated the declare in Tuesday night time’s debate, regardless of metropolis officers saying there was no proof of this occurring.
On Saturday, Vance doubled down on the claims that immigrants have been consuming pets, sharing the brand new allegation on X.
“Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks must be ashamed of themselves,” Vance wrote. “One other ‘debunked’ story that turned out to have advantage.”
New declare
Christopher Rufo, a conservative author and activist revealed the brand new declare on Substack and the allegations are based mostly on a video initially posted to social media in August 2023.
CBS Information confirmed the unique video was first posted to social media in August 2023 by a person who lives in Dayton, Ohio. CBS Information reached out to the person for remark however didn’t hear again on Saturday afternoon.
The video exhibits what seems to be animal carcasses on a grill. The person filming the footage alleges, with out proof, that they’re cats.
“What is that this they bought on the grill?” the person says within the video. When two cats seem close to the grill, the person jokes that the cats “higher get lacking — seems to be like his homey’s on the grill!”
Rufo stated he spoke to the person who filmed the video, and the person believes the carcasses have been cats. Rufo stated he labored on the story with IM-1776, a web-based journal, and considered one of their reporters visited the constructing the place the incident was alleged to have occurred. The reporter spoke to neighbors, who stated that African immigrants lived within the constructing. Neighbors instructed the reporter they believed the individuals who owned the grill have been additionally African immigrants, though the residents’ origin or identification wasn’t verified by CBS Information.
The brand new allegation additionally prompted backlash and skepticism, with many customers saying the carcasses look extra like chickens. CBS Information has reached out to veterinary consultants for his or her opinion on what sort of carcass is on the grill.
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims, Jr. additionally issued an announcement, calling the declare “completely false and dangerously irresponsible of politicians aiming to sow division and worry.” Mims stated there had been “completely zero experiences of this kind of exercise.”