The woman who wrote the original Facebook post warning that Haitians were carving up and eating pets, ducks and geese says she is filled with regret and feels sorry for the immigrants.

US media tracked down Erika Lee who shared the warning in a private Facebook group in Springfield, Ohio, with information she had received fourth hand.

The baseless claim was picked up by right-wing activists and sensationally repeated by Donald Trump during the presidential debate against Kamala Harris on Wednesday.

The false stories have raised tensions in Ohio, with bomb threats forcing the evacuation of schools and government buildings for a second day in Springfield, where 20,000 Haitians live.

Local police and city officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence of such crimes against pets and wildlife.

Lee told NBC her Facebook post had “exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen”.

“I’m not a racist,” Lee told NBC, adding that her daughter was half black and she herself was mixed race and a member of the LGBTQ community.

“Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent.”

Lee said she felt sorry for the Haitians in Springfield.

“I feel for the Haitian community,” she said. “If I was in the Haitians’ position, I’d be terrified, too, worried that somebody’s going to come after me because they think I’m hurting something that they love and that, again, that’s not what I was trying to do.”

Lee told NBC she was filled with regret and had not expected her community warning to explode onto the national stage.

“I didn’t think it would ever get past Springfield,” she said.

Newsguard, a media watchdog that monitors online misinformation, identified Lee, 35, as central to the pet-eating claim which Trump has continued to repeat.

Lee told Newsguard she heard the rumour from her neighbour Kimberly Newton and shared the information to the ‘Springfield Ohio Crime and Information’ Facebook group earlier this month.

The post said: “My neighbour [Newton] informed me that her daughters [sic] friend had lost her cat. … One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbors house, where Haitians live, & saw her cat hanging from a branch, like you’d do a deer for butchering, & they were carving it up to eat.”

Erika Lee’s original post to a private Facebook group. Photo: Facebook

The neighbour, Newton, told Newsgaurd she heard the rumour third hand and the cat owner was “an acquaintance of a friend”, not her daughter’s friend.

“I’m not sure I’m the most credible source because I don’t actually know the person who lost the cat,” Newton told Newsguard.

She said she heard about the supposed incident from a friend who had learned about it from “a source that she had”.

“I don’t have any proof,” Newton stated.

At Wednesday’s presidential candidate debate, Trump repeated the debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs.

Trump’s comments echoed similar claims made by his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, and other Republicans, including one that immigrants are eating fowl snatched from public parks.

Another unsubstantiated viral photo of a man holding a goose was debunked by Ohio wildlife authorities.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife told TMZ the man was picking up two geese that had been hit by a car in Columbus, which is about 45 minutes from Springfield.

Springfield bomb threats

The false stories have raised tensions in Ohio, with bomb threats forcing the evacuation of schools and government buildings for a second day in Springfield.

An emailed threat said bombs had been planted in the homes of Springfield’s mayor and other city officials, spokeswoman Karen Graves said on Friday (US time).

A second email said bombs would be detonated at locations including Springfield City Hall, a high school, a middle school, two primary schools, a local office of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and a licensing bureau.

The buildings were evacuated, and authorities with explosive-detection dogs swept and cleared them, officials said.

“We are committed to the safety and well-being of our community and take all threats to public safety with the utmost seriousness,” Graves said.

“We are currently collaborating with the Dayton office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine the origin of these email threats.”

The Springfield City School District said in a statement that “all threats to the Springfield City School District are taken seriously and will be prosecuted at the highest levels.

“The district’s messaging to families continues to be one of gratitude for their patience and understanding as our Wildcat Family navigates these events.”

The threatening emails referenced an influx of thousands of Haitian immigrants into the predominantly white, blue-collar city of about 60,000, about 70km from the state capital of Columbus.

In an interview with NewsNation, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said the claims are “just untrue,” and cast the city in a negative light.

“Springfield is still beautiful and your pets are safe,” he said.

“There’s a lot of frenzy on the internet, but this is not what we’re seeing. It’s a bit frustrating.”

Rue acknowledged the immigrant influx is straining police, hospitals and schools. He said the city asked for help several months ago.

“There is a culture clash, and we see it, and we know it,” he said.

“And the federal leaders who had the national stage did not help us solve this problem.”

-with AAP