Strange Columbus photo's connection to claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The photo of a man holding a dead goose circulating on the internet is serving as ammunition for extreme claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, but the photographer has stepped forward to clarify he took the photo in Columbus.

Dozens of accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, have posted the photo and cited it as evidence of Haitian immigrants in Springfield killing and eating local cats and birds. The claims have been propped up by prominent figures including GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Sen. Ted Cruz, Republicans in the House Judiciary Committee and X owner Elon Musk as well.

The City of Springfield told NBC4 on Monday that there are "no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community." Local police gave a similar response that they had not received any local reports of pets being stolen or eaten to the Springfield News-Sun.

Vance doubled down on accusations against the town's migrant population Tuesday, referencing not only health and educational strain, but also a 2023 school bus crash that left a student dead. He also inferred the immigrants were behind an increase in illnesses like tuberculosis.

"My office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who've said their neighbors' pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It's possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false," Vance wrote on X. "Do you know what's confirmed? ... That communicable diseases -- like TB and HIV -- have been on the rise."

At a news conference, when reporters directly asked Springfield Mayor Rob Rue about Vance's claim about the two diseases, he replied that he only knew of an "overall" pressure on the area's healthcare system.

The City of Springfield has acknowledged several thousand Haitians migrated to the town legally under temporary protected status, and the New York Times also reported on ballooning Creole translator costs in the Springfield local school district. But the photographer behind the now-viral goose photo, whom NBC4 has kept anonymous for his safety, uploaded his photo July 28 to Reddit. A timestamp on the post shows it went live months before the Springfield controversy.

"I was just driving down the street Sunday morning, saw a guy walking down the street with a goose, thought it was kind of crazy, you know, not something you see every day," the photographer said. "I was gonna talk to him. He did not speak English as much as I can tell. He was not Haitian, I've heard Haitian people before."

The photographer said he did not see how the goose died, and did not know where the man got it. He provided NBC4 with an original copy of the photo, allowing examination of its metadata. The EXIF information showed it was shot with a Pixel 7 Pro Android phone, and also confirmed it was taken at the intersection of Cleveland Avenue and Northwold Road in Columbus.

The photographer said his original intention was to document a weird thing he saw while driving in Columbus, and he was taken by surprise when the internet repurposed his photo for misinformation.

"I don't remember anybody commenting anything about race, or immigration status or anything else at the time that I posted the picture," the photographer said. "I hate that picture that I took is being used as a weapon ... I kind of hate that I even took the picture."

He noted that he got in contact with an online image theft protection service to try and issue takedown notices for the unlicensed use of his photo. Alongside users on X reposting the picture, the photographer used a reverse image search to find it next to an AI-generated graphic on InfoWars. The right-wing conspiracy website drew widespread attention when Alex Jones alleged the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, and is facing shutdown thanks to its host's bankruptcy proceedings.

The Springfield mayor also addressed the online attention on the city's migrant population during his news conference. Rue said the city had no verifiable instances of immigrants eating pets or local wildlife, and instead asked, "As a human being, can you imagine being talked about like this?"

"What we're doing is we're letting these rumors, this national rhetoric come into our community and divide us. And like we said earlier, there are things we need to focus on," Rue said. "But because we're focusing on X posts and Facebook posts and trying to squash those rumors, it takes a lot of time to getting the truth back."

The photographer said the Ohio Department of Natural Resources did reach out to him as part of an investigation into the pictured Canada goose, which is a protected species under federal and Ohio law. NBC4 reached out to ODNR to learn more about the exchange, and the agency replied that it was looking into the matter.