People in Springfield, Ohio, are worried that the growing number of Haitians is putting a strain on the city’s resources and leading to more car crashes.
A recent post from a local on social media went viral over the weekend, spreading reports that some illegal immigrants were taking and eating pets belonging to locals.
“Taking ducks by the neck, cutting off their heads, and eating them.”
“My neighbor told me that her daughter’s friend lost her cat,” the post said.
A local wrote, “One day she got home from work and as soon as she got out of her car, she looked over to a house where Haitians live and witnessed her cat hanging from a tree like you would deer for butchering. They were cutting it up to eat.”
The homeowner said that this is also happening to their neighbors’ dogs and to ducks and geese at a nearby park.
This is “not something that’s on our mind right now,” the Springfield Police Division told the Springfield News-Sun on Monday.
But an arrest 175 miles away in Canton, Ohio, has made the reports of pets being stolen and eaten even stronger. Someone arrested a 27-year-old woman last month for reportedly killing a cat and eating it “in front of multiple people.” There is no information in the news about her arrest that she is from Haiti. Also, records of voter registration show that she is signed up to vote.
People in Springfield recently spoke out at a meeting of the city council about their worries about the rise in Haitian immigrants.
Anthony Harris, a 28-year-old neighbor, asked the government to do something about the rise in car crashes.
“These Haitians are running into trash cans.” Harris said, “They’re running into houses. It’s crazy that they’re flipping cars in the middle of the street. How can you all be okay with that?”
“In the background, I really think someone is making money off of it,” he said.
Harris said that some Haitians go to parks and “grab ducks by the neck, cut off their heads, and walk off with them to eat them.”
