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Dayton officials debunk rumors of migrants grilling, eating pets

John Russell » Groups » NEWSMucks » Discussions » Dayton officials debunk rumors of migrants grilling, eating pets

Via: John Russell • 2 months ago • 13 comments

By: Aaron Valdez (The Enquirer)

Dayton officials debunk rumors of migrants grilling, eating pets

The post quickly gained traction on the social media platform, amassing over 30,000 likes and and 14,000 retweet as of Saturday afternoon.

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S E E D E D C O N T E N T

Aaron ValdezCincinnati Enquirer

A new viral video shared by Republican vice-presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance is continuing to fuel rumors about migrants abducting and eating pets in the state.

However, this time it says it's happening in Dayton, about 30 miles from Springfield, the epicenter of recent unproven claims that allege Haitian immigrants are killing pets.

The video was posted on X Saturday morning by Christopher F. Rufo, a prominent conservative activist who initiated the adversarial movement against critical race theory. The video shows what seems to be skinned animals on top of a small charcoal grill in the yard of a home. A couple of live cats could also be seen roaming the yard around the grill.

The post quickly gained traction on the social media platform, amassing over 33,000 likes and and 15,000 retweets as of Saturday afternoon. Two of those retweets were from Vance - who along with other Republican influencers, spread rumors earlier this week about Haitian migrants in Springfield eating pets - and Donald Trump Jr.

"Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks should be ashamed of themselves. Another 'debunked' story that turned out to have merit," Vance posted.

In the caption of Rufo's post, he claims the video is proof of migrants eating cats in Ohio.

"We have discovered that migrants are, in fact, eating cats in Ohio," the caption reads. "We have verified, with multiple witnesses and visual cross-references, that African migrants in Dayton, the next city over from Springfield, barbecued these cats last summer."

However, Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims said in a statement Saturday afternoon that he refutes the rumors of Dayton's immigrant and refugee population eating pets and called the claims "baseless."

"This claim is totally false and dangerously irresponsible of politicians aiming to sow division and fear. There has been absolutely zero reports of this type of activity and spreading such misinformation undermines our status as a welcoming city," Mims said in his statement. "The city of Dayton stands by its immigrant and refugee community and we value all of their contributions to our city's vibrant culture and economy. We will remain committed to creating an inclusive environment for all Dayton residents."

Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal also released a statement Saturday afternoon, saying the department "strongly refutes the irresponsible information being put out on social media or other avenues about our immigrant community."

"We stand by our immigrant community and there is no evidence to even remotely suggest that any group, including our immigrant community, is engaged in eating pets," Afzal said in the statement. "Seeing politicians or other individuals use outlandish information to appeal to their constituents is disheartening."

Dayton police and city officials did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.

Dayton is the second Ohio city to be at the center of pet-eating rumors. Earlier this week, rumors about Springfield, a town of about 58,000, and its growing Haitian population have dominated the internet and national news.

The rumors alleged that Haitian migrants in Springfield were abducting and eating pets, as well as waterfowl from local parks. Those rumors rapidly spread on social media and were even mentioned by former President Donald Trump during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday.

Fact check:Ohio woman accused of eating cat is from Canton, not from Springfield

"In Springfield, they are eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there," Trump said during the debate.

However, Springfield police and city officials and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources all said there is no evidence of pets, ducks or geese being eaten.

"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," Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck said in a previous statement.

Despite city officials debunking the rumors, Rufo said in a post Wednesday that he is offering a monetary reward to anyone that can provide him with evidence of migrants eating cats in Springfield.

"I will provide a $5,000 bounty to anyone who can provide my team with hard, verifiable evidence that Haitian migrants are eating cats in Springfield, Ohio. Deadline is Sunday. Go." Rufo said in the post, which has about 23,000 likes and 3,300 retweets as of Saturday afternoon.

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Professor Principal

1 seeder JohnRussell 2 months ago

Does this image "prove" that cats are being eaten in Ohio? The far right wing social media thinks it does.

800

Professor Principal

1.1 seeder JohnRussell replied to JohnRussell @1 2 months ago

I saw an image yesterday purporting to be a cat or dog being barbecued on a spit in someones backyard. It turned out to be a lamb.

I once attended a Christmas party give by a Filipino American couple. The centerpiece of the food spread was a roasted pig , which to me was gross looking. But I didnt conclude there was anything sinister about it. They also had a condiment to go with it they called "blood sauce". I took that to mean the sauce was made from the blood of the pig, and I politely declined to taste it.

Maybe we should investigate every ethnicity in America in search for peculiar cooking habits.

Professor Principal

2 seeder JohnRussell 2 months ago

"This claim is totally false and dangerously irresponsible of politicians aiming to sow division and fear. There has been absolutely zero reports of this type of activity and spreading such misinformation undermines our status as a welcoming city," Mims said in his statement. "The city of Dayton stands by its immigrant and refugee community and we value all of their contributions to our city's vibrant culture and economy. We will remain committed to creating an inclusive environment for all Dayton residents."

At some point this has to stop.

Professor Principal

3 Sean Treacy 2 months ago

When will Democrats learn what the words "no evidence" means? For years, they've been butchering that phrase and it shows no sign of letting up.

Here's Rufo's reponse to a similar story:

The CBS report hinges on two arguments. First, CBS writes: “The video shows what appears to be animal carcasses on a grill. The man filming the footage alleges, without evidence, that they are cats.” Without evidence? The eyewitness directly observed the incident and took a video recording of it—both of which are firsthand evidence. But CBS’s apparent standard, when such evidence violates the establishment narrative, is: Don’t believe your lying eyes. The report also quotes Dayton’s Democratic mayor, who says there have been “absolutely zero reports of this type of activity.” Which is true, but does not contradict the evidence at all. Nobody filed a police report, so there would be no police report—and the absence of a police report does not mean that something did not happen. This is a convenient way of ignoring the evidence, and laundering lies through friendly media apparatus. What did CBS not do? Journalism. The network, which has massive resources, did not send a reporter to the scene, interview the eyewitness, interview the neighbors, investigate the visual evidence, conduct background research, or provide a detailed analysis. They simply adopted “don’t believe your lying eyes” as their standard and repeated an empty, evidence-free statement from a partisan political figure. Now, I’d like to take you through exactly how we produced the story and analyzed the evidence. This is precisely the case that I made in the original piece, that the establishment media is more interested in denial and obfuscation, even when the evidence points the other way.
An individual in my personal social network reached out with a tip and a link to the social media post with the video. (This source neither requested, nor received, the monetary prize I had posted on social media a few days prior.) Our team then collected the timestamped social media from August 2023, which was still live. We tracked down the author, authenticated the video, matched it to his voice, and conducted an interview by phone, in which he confirmed the key details of the story. The following day, we had the author bring us to the location and make introductions, had a team member conduct background research, and sent a reporter into the field to make observations and conduct interviews. To confirm the exact location of the video, we matched the visual elements in the picture to the visual elements on the scene, down to matching knot patterns in fence planks, which provided us with the precise address and camera position relative to the scene. For extra care, we also cross-referenced the visual evidence with street and satellite images, plus residential property records.

Eyewitness Account Our interview with the eyewitness matched the details of the original video and was unambiguous in its conclusion: “This African dude next door had the damn cat on the grill. They was barbecuing the damn cat!” The eyewitness was familiar with the African families in the housing complex (his son played with their children) and his child’s mother, who lived next door to the Africans, had observed them on at least one occasion butchering a large mammal on the street. The eyewitness had a close, unmediated look at the incident and maintained a consistent story over one year, to multiple different groups, including his own peer group. He is familiar with barbecuing and, like anyone, is familiar with cats. The source of his initial shock was that the animal on the grill was not a chicken, burger, hotdog, or other usual fare. Again, he witnessed the incident firsthand, recorded a video, and maintained a consistent story over a year. This is all direct evidence, contrary to CBS News’s disingenuous claim.

Field Interviews Our field reporter spoke with a half-dozen people in the housing complex, who confirmed the following details: all of the residents of the complex were migrants from Africa, most commonly the Congo; they were familiar with the eyewitness, his child’s mother, and his son; they told us another African family had recently moved out of one of the units; this family owned and used a blue grill; the father would go out with a knife and gather meat; there were stray cats breeding on the property and some residents wanted to get rid of them. We also made the following direct observations on the scene: we matched the visuals in the video to the location; we found an abandoned grill that matched the make, model, and color in the video and the descriptions in the interviews; we noticed that there were at least ten cats on the property, which appeared to be strays and were very comfortable with the residents, coming onto the porches and milling around the exterior of the house. Background Research Our research team learned that there is a tradition of cat eating in the Congo and surrounding nations. We also learned that, since at least 2021, Dayton has accommodated a relatively large number of migrants from the Congo. By chance, one of our in-house researchers had experience dissecting cats and studying their anatomy. In addition, we spoke on background with a chicken farmer, surgeon, biologist, hunter, and medical professor. After some left-wing conspiracy accounts on social began claiming that the animals were chickens, rather than cats, we asked them to provide their opinion. I will reproduce some of the quotations from two of those interviews below.

Chicken Farmer Interview This farmer, who has processed thousands of animals per year, confirmed that it could not be a chicken in the video: • “The most obvious evidence is that the claws on the grill are facing the wrong way for it to be an avian creature. Size-wise the only poultry [the claws] could credibly be compared to is a Cornish game hen or something small, but the carcasses are much larger than that. Literally any poultry farmer or butcher would tell you that’s not a chicken or a waterfowl.” • “A bird wouldn’t be able to rest upside down like that. Its heavy legs would cause it to flop to one side or another, or the legs would just drop down to either side … There’s no way for a bird to naturally sit that way. They’re bottom-heavy creatures.” • “The legs are too skinny [to be a chicken]. The ‘drumstick’ even on a laying hen would be much meatier. Number two is that, even if it were a bird, the talons are facing in the wrong direction. But they are in the right direction for cat’s paws. They are basically claiming that the two legs on the left are those of a chicken, and that its butt is somehow propped in the air. First of all, why would it be propped in the air? ... But more importantly, why would the drumsticks be stuck up in midair? For a quadruped like a feline this makes sense (they are the front legs) but not an avian creature which has one set of legs with a sort of folding joint in them. If the bird were face up as they are claiming, the legs would fold down onto the thighs, not project straight into the air.”

• “The feet of a chicken or a waterfowl are much larger in proportion to the carcass than what’s in the video. Whereas the proportion fits that between a cat’s leg and paw. When you shoot a cow or sheep or pig, they might fall and roll onto their back with their legs straight up in the air like the cat is. Because they’re also quadrupeds. Not possible with a chicken because it just has a totally different leg structure. Made to do different things.” Surgeon Interview This surgeon, who also has practical experience with animals, explained that the proportions of the animal, particularly the “ileum-to-scapula distance,” resemble a mammal, more specifically, a cat, rather than a chicken: • “It’s fascinating how different animal species have remarkably similar skeletal structures - the humerus is proximal to the radius, the sternum anterior to the scapula - but the relationship of those bones to each other is what largely differentiates one animal species to the next, not only in appearance but also in function.”

• “[In the video,] you can see that a cat has a greater distance between the scapula and the ileum. This provides more space for the abdominal organs (i.e. small bowel, liver) between the thoracic cavity and the pelvis. When the legs are stretched, a 90-degree angle is formed between the legs and the pelvis/abdominal cavity (as can be seen in the picture).” • “In contrast, a chicken has a very short distance between the scapula and the ileum. The reason for this is that the abdominal organs are located more caudally (i.e. towards the tail). When a chicken’s legs are stretched, this exaggerated 90-degree angle (as is seen in the video) is absent because the thoracic cavity is so close to the pelvis - hence, short distance between the scapula and ileum.”

• “The animals in the video are cats and not chickens due to the pronounced right angle between the legs and the abdomen that occur as a result of a longer ileum-to-scapula distance.”

Conclusion The CBS News report is not credible and does not make any attempt to investigate the facts. Rather, it simply denied the eyewitness account and firsthand video as “without evidence”—a logical contradiction—and copied a statement from the Democratic mayor, who also did not investigate the matter. There is no indication that CBS sent a reporter into the field, conducted any interviews, or provided any visual analysis. There is no indication that CBS even knows where the incident occurred, something that took our team some time on the ground. As I wrote in my original piece about the story, the establishment media wants to maintain a line of propaganda and wish away any evidence to the contrary, appealing to authority rather than evidence. This is dishonest and does a disservice to productive debate.

Professor Principal

3.1 seeder JohnRussell replied to Sean Treacy @3 2 months ago

This entire line of inquiry is racist.

I had an uncle who used to sell cattle at the Chicago Stockyards and he told me a story of how the meat packing companies would give their employees pigs as presents at Christmas time. The people would take the pigs home and raise them in their back yards and when the pig was fat enough and big enough to be slaughtered they would bring the pig back to work and the company would slice and dice them up for free for their employees. And the family would have a season worth of pork chops or tenderloin. This was in the 1930's, in the middle of the city. The employees were largely Irish.

I woudnt want to eat a cat , but unless they are stealing them out of people's back yards its nobodys business. Animals are slaughtered for meat today in factories where the poor animals are packed in pens so tight they cant even turn around.

This entire "episode" is racism in action.

Professor Principal

3.1.1 Sean Treacy replied to JohnRussell @3.1 2 months ago

them in their back yards and when the pig was fat enough and big enough to be slaughtered they would bring the pig back to work and the company would slice and dice them up for free for their employees.

Yes, we eat pigs. They are delicious.

nless they are stealing them out of people's back yards its nobodys business

Pretty sure it's illegal to eat cats. That's the difference. We have a cultural taboo against it, just like we do dogs. If you migrate to a country and ask to be taken care of, respecting the host's culture shouldn't be an issue.

Professor Principal

3.1.2 seeder JohnRussell replied to Sean Treacy @3.1.1 2 months ago

Various people are disgusted by various things. In America we have the freedom to eat what we want.

White people used to walk around with the carcasses of animals on the top of their heads and wrapped around their shoulders. It was actually a status symbol in some cases.

Professor Principal

3.2 Hallux replied to Sean Treacy @3 2 months ago

They simply adopted “don’t believe your lying eyes” as their standard and repeated an empty, evidence-free statement from a partisan political figure.

Rufo is not a partisan political figure? Okay ...

Professor Principal

4 seeder JohnRussell 2 months ago

Simple Squirrel (Hillbilly squirrel & gravy over rice)

A simple yet delicious way to prepare squirrel. Try it paired with red wine.

Prep Time10minutes mins

Cook Time2hours hrs 30minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: squirrel

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

2 squirrels cut into 6 pieces each
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
11/2 teaspoon pepper
4 oz vegetable oil +/-
2 cups milk
2 cups cooked rice white , brown , wild chose your favorite
Instructions
- Mix flour salt pepper in bag.
- Drop in squirrel parts 6 at a time and shake well.
- Heat oil in # 8 cast iron firing pan.
- Brown/sear squirrel well over med-high heat 4 minutes per side. Remove to paper towels (will cook through during simmer).
Make gravy with pan drippings
- Add flour from bag to oil in pan just enough to absorb most oil. Stir well (can remove some oil if necessary).
- Add milk to pan, stirring a lot (can be thin/watery for gravy, can add water to thin).
- Season with salt & pepper as necessary.
- Add squirrel and simmer with on low approx. 2 hours with lid (until tender).
- Cook rice as directed.
- Place squirrel back leg over rice spoon gravy over...EAT !

Professor Principal

5 seeder JohnRussell 2 months ago

31-Delicious-and-Easy-Rabbit-Recipes-You-Need-to-Try.jpg

Professor Principal

5.1 seeder JohnRussell replied to JohnRussell @5 2 months ago

Yikes !

Junior Quiet

6 afrayedknot 2 months ago

This entire thing is indicative of the sad state of our dysfunction. Bomb threats closing schools, entire communities being castigated, candidates admitting their comments were fabrications.

Embarrassing does not begin to describe it. Lunacy is rampant and yet some choose to ignore reality, excuse the ramifications, and yet somehow condone it all.

Professor Principal

7 JBB 2 months ago

No doubt MAGA will be butchering cats just to prove it happens...

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Dayton officials debunk rumors of migrants grilling, eating pets

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Simple Squirrel (Hillbilly squirrel & gravy over rice)

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Instructions

Make gravy with pan drippings

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