Shocking video appears to show African migrants grilling cats in Ohio town in 2023

Christopher Rufo shared a video that was previously posted to social media on August 25, 2023, that shows Africans grilling what appear to be cats in Dayton, Ohio, about a half hour from Springfield, where the recent controversy over Haitian migrants allegedly eating dogs and cats originated.

"We identified a social media post, dated August 25, 2023, with a short video depicting what appear to be two skinned cats on top of a blue barbeque," Rufo reported. The caption on the video read "Yoooo the Africans wildn on Parkwood,” which Rufo said refers to Parkwood Drive, in Dayton.

The video shows two cats walking on the grass near a broken-down fence and a voice over says "There go a cat right there. His ass better get missin’, man. Look like his homies on the grill!"

That source told Rufo that his son "was friendly with the neighbors" and that "there was no doubt about what happened last summer."

"They was barbecuing the damn cat!" The source said, going on to explain that. "His son’s mother had previously witnessed the family butchering a mammal on the street, but the cats on the barbecue put him in such a state of shock, he felt the need to film it."

Rufo reported that the author of the video, with whom he spoke, preferred to remain anonymous but did "confirm "its time, location, and authenticity." That source told Rufo that he filmed the incident when he was picking up his son from his son's mother's home and he saw what appeared to be cats being grilled by the Africans who lived next door.  

"It was some Africans that stay right next door to my kid’s mother," he said, per Rufo. "This African dude next door had the damn cat on the grill." Rufo's team investigated, checking in with the families who lived in one of the identified apartment units, one of which was from the Democratic Republic of Congo. That family confirmed that there were many other African nationals living in the area.

One resident said that previous tenants had a blue grill like the one seen in the video and that the father of that family would take a knife out into the neighborhood to "find meat." The grill had been left behind and Rufo's team was able to see it, confirming that it was the same make and model as that in the video.

In the recent debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Trump brought up concerns that were apparently raised by residents in Springfield, both at city council meetings and elsewhere, that Haitian refugees were eating cats, dogs, and wild Canadian geese, which are protected.

Those migrants came to the US under the Biden-Harris administration's refugee resettlement program and are eligible for full welfare benefits, from food stamps to housing to medical care.

UPDATE: The Mayor or Dayton Jeffrey J. Mims, Jr. has forcefully denied any allegations of this activity happening in his city, claiming that the report is "totally false and dangerously irresponsible of politicians aiming to sow division and fear." He added there have been "absolutely zero reports of this type of activity.". However, Christopher Rufo stands by his reporting, issuing a lengthy rebuttal and saying outright that the mayor "did not investigate the matter."