A Nigerian man was arrested for setting fire to and eating a stray cat in Sarzana, Italy, last week.
Italian news sites reported on the incident, including the English version of LaMilano.it. However, interestingly, the article on the site about the incident is now blocked. A different site, Jen.jiji.com, has republished a verbatim copy. The local news site La Gazetta della Spezia has also covered the story.
According to these reports, the incident took place at Crociata park on the afternoon of 15 April, where bystanders spotted the Nigrarian migrant set fire to a stray cat. Whether he killed the cat or found it dead is unclear at this point.
The now-blocked La Milano article quotes a Facebook post by Security Councillor Stefano Torri, in which he described the event as ‘an atrocious act that cannot and must not find space in a civil society’; and shares that ‘an immigrant of Nigerian origin, thanks to the report of some citizens, was caught by law enforcement while committing an act of unheard-of cruelty against a poor cat’.
‘As an Administration, we are ready to reiterate strongly: we will not allow anyone to come into our territory to import sick and barbaric customs and customs. Whoever is housed in our country has a duty to respect our laws and our sensitivity towards animals. We won’t tolerate our land being turned into a theatre of the uncivilized by those who have no respect for the rules of civil life.’ Torri adds in his Facebook post.
tweeThe British tabloid news site The Sun cites a different local figure on the subject, animal rights activist Piera Rosati, who said that while she understands that the life of a homeless person can be difficult, it still does not justify such an act. ‘Killing an animal in a cruel manner and in a public place is never acceptable and must be prosecuted with the utmost severity,’ she stressed, while also pointing out that facilities that serve hot meals to those in need operate across Italy.
The case of the Nigerian migrant has also garnered significant attention in the United States. The popular X account Libs of TikTok has shared a post about the incident.
Nigerian migrant arrested in Italy after grilling a cat in a park near a kid’s playground pic.twitter.com/qXSvIXhwvy
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 19, 2026
This has a special relevance in American politics as it relates to a memorable moment in the presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in September 2024.
During the debate, President Trump famously claimed that Haitian migrants in Ohio ‘are eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats, they are eating the pets of the people that live there’.
This claim has been heavily disputed by the American mainstream media ever since. Its source is a post in a local Facebook group named Springfield Ohio Crime and Information, where one user claimed her daughter’s cat had been eaten by Haitian immigrants in the area. However, the post in question has since been deleted.
Around the same time, a woman in Canton, Ohio, was arrested and charged with killing and eating a cat. However, the perpetrator was an American citizen, not a Haitian immigrant.
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