Video shows report about cat attack in Florida, not Ohio | Fact check

A Sept. 17 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a TV news report about cats going missing.”You remember when Trump said they’re eating the animals?” says a man superimposed on the video, an apparent reference to former President Donald Trump’s comments about immigrants in Ohio at his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. “Well here’s an actual news story from Springfield, Ohio. Allegedly.”
The post was liked more than 3,000 times in a day.
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The TV news report is not from Springfield, Ohio. It aired on a Florida television station in 2022 and covered reports of cats going missing in the Springfield neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida.
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have spread unsubstantiated claims about Haitian immigrants abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
But contrary to the claim in the Instagram post, the TV news report is not from Springfield, Ohio. Rather, the report aired in November 2022 on News4Jax, also known as WJXT4, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida, and serves northeast Florida and southeast Georgia.
Fact check: Photo of man holding dead goose not taken in Springfield, Ohio
The segment covered the reported abduction of a pet cat named Ashi on Redwing Street in the Springfield neighborhood of Jacksonville. The incident followed the reported disappearances of other cats in the neighborhood, according to the report.
The portion of the news piece shown in the Instagram post also includes visible logos for News4Jax and WJXT4.
The station reported in January 2023 that Ashi was found alive by its owner in the Springfield neighborhood.
A man later pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated animal abuse following two incidents in the Springfield neighborhood, according to a news release from the Office of the State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
USA TODAY has debunked multiple social media claims related to Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, including false assertions that an image shows a Haitian migrant carrying a dead goose and that Haitian migrants are “decapitating ducks in parks.”
The Instagram user who shared the video did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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