No evidence North Carolina students seeking litter boxes in bathrooms

In April, we debunked a claim that schools in several states were putting litter boxes in bathrooms to accommodate students who identified as furries, people interested in anthropomorphized animals. 

School districts in Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska said this isn’t happening, contrary to widespread rumors there. Similar claims, such as cafeteria tables being lowered to allow furries to eat without utensils in Texas, are also false. 

Now, a school district in North Carolina has pushed back on the unsubstantiated allegation that students identifying as cats or furries were insisting on litter boxes in the bathrooms and bowls of water in the halls.

"We are in trouble and it's worse than many are aware," a May 17 Facebook post says. "We have some students here in Wilkes that identify themselves as cats or ‘furries.’ They have demanded to wear furry outfits to schools and been denied due to it violating dress code. We were told some have asked for litter boxes be placed in school restrooms for them to use. They have demanded that water bowls be put in hallways."

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stated on July 4, 2020 in a Facebook post

“Covid is never going away! This is the beach today in Raleigh, North Carolina.”

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Morgan Mathis, a spokesperson for Wilkes County Schools in North Carolina, told PolitiFact that the school system "is not aware of any of the requests mentioned in this post such as items in restrooms." 

If credible evidence emerges that there’s any validity to this claim, we’ll reconsider our ruling. But it appears to be part of a pattern of fabricated, ridiculous claims. Pants on Fire!