Ohio
Ohio police dispute new allegations immigrants are eating pets in Dayton
Police in Dayton, Ohio, have said there is no evidence that immigrants are eating pets, calling new allegations that emerged online on Saturday “irresponsible.”
The police statement was issued hours after a new video and article alleged African immigrants in Dayton were seen preparing to grill dead cats. The claim 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 said in a statement, “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. Seeing politicians or other individuals use outlandish information to appeal to their constituents is disheartening.”
The new claim followed baseless allegations that Haitian immigrants were abducting and eating pets in Springfield, a city less than 30 miles from Dayton. Former President Donald Trump repeated the claim in Tuesday night’s debate, despite city officials saying there was no evidence of this happening.
On Saturday, Vance doubled down on the claims that immigrants were eating pets, sharing the new allegation on X.
“Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks should be ashamed of themselves,” Vance wrote. “Another ‘debunked’ story that turned out to have merit.”
New claim
Christopher Rufo, a conservative writer and activist published the new claim on Substack and the allegations are based on a video originally posted to social media in August 2023.
CBS News confirmed the original video was first posted to social media in August 2023 by a man who lives in Dayton, Ohio. CBS News reached out to the man for comment but did not hear back on Saturday afternoon.
The video shows what appears to be animal carcasses on a grill. The man filming the footage alleges, without evidence, that they are cats.
“What is this they got on the grill?” the man says in the video. When two cats appear near the grill, the man jokes that the cats “better get missing — looks like his homey’s on the grill!”
Rufo said he spoke to the man who filmed the video, and the man believes the carcasses were cats. Rufo said he worked on the story with IM-1776, an online magazine, and one of their reporters visited the building where the incident was alleged to have happened. The reporter spoke to neighbors, who said that African immigrants lived in the building. Neighbors told the reporter they believed the people who owned the grill were also African immigrants, although the residents’ origin or identity wasn’t verified by CBS News.
The new allegation also prompted backlash and skepticism, with many users saying the carcasses look more like chickens. CBS News has reached out to veterinary experts for their opinion on what type of carcass is on the grill.
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims, Jr. also issued a statement, calling the claim “totally false and dangerously irresponsible of politicians aiming to sow division and fear.” Mims said there had been “absolutely zero reports of this type of activity.”
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
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It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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