Cat litter trays in schools: The 'purrplexing' urban myth that refuses to go away

Parents with children at a Jersey secondary school have been sharing their bemusement after the headteacher wrote to them shutting down a rumour that cat litter trays had been installed in the school toilets.

Staff at Jersey College for Girls had been aware of the rumours circulating "for some time", with headteacher Carl Howarth calling the claims "clearly nonsense and utterly ludicrous".

He went on to say: "We had [hoped] these rumours would naturally stop without our involvement. However, rather bizarrely that doesn't seem to be the case."

The college is far from the first to face claims that litter trays had been installed in school toilets to cater for students "identifying as cats".

The internet hoax started out in the United States, where it became popular among conservative commentators and politicians including podcaster Joe Rogan and Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

In September 2022, the Republican candidate standing to be the next Governor of Minnesota, Scott Jensen, repeated the unsubstantiated claim.

He said: "Why do we have litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them because they identify as a furry? We’ve lost our minds."

A candidate running for state office in Texas even claimed cafeteria tables were being lowered to allow "furries" to eat without using utensils.

School districts debunked the claims, with fact-checkers unable to substantiate any of the reports shared on social media sites like Facebook and WhatsApp.

That didn't stop the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory from crossing the Atlantic and taking up roots in Europe.

In January 2023, Aberdeenshire Council had to debunk "false rumours" that students at Banff Academy were defecating on the floor in protest against not being provided with litter trays.

A spokesperson said: "We are aware of false rumours circulating online suggesting that Banff Academy has pupils identifying as cats requesting litter trays in the academy’s toilets.

"It is disappointing to see this rumour continue to spread, however, both Aberdeenshire Council and Banff Academy continue to focus on the well-being and education of our children and young people."

Professor Stephan Lewandowsky is a cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol who specialises in debunking misinformation.

Speaking to ITV News, he said people tend to believe things that allay any fears they have: "In this case - clearly it's ridiculous - but it's tapping into other people's fears that are evoked whenever there is talk about gender identity.

"It's something that some people feel very threatened by - so even in this very extreme case - you can tap into that underlying concern or fear, leading people to believe [the rumour], feeding into the stereotype of 'woke' schools doing things they really aren't."

• Professor Lewandowsky explained how people can be susceptible to conspiracy theories and online misinformation.

He said misinformation is a growing problem: "There's more and more information out there on the internet, and it's becoming less and less filtered because many people are now getting their 'news' from social media which doesn't have any gatekeepers.

"There's a lot of false information out there, and the problem with that is that - as a species - we're pre-disposed to believe anything we hear or see. There's a very good reason for that - normally, when you talk to people in daily life, they'll tell you the truth. If I ask you what day of the week it is or what time it is, whatever you say, I can believe it because you'd be very unlikely to tell me something that's wrong.

"That strategy fails when we're being told something that turns out to be wrong... It is very difficult to process a negation or correction which invalidates something we believe, so people end up relying on information even if they know it is false - just because it is so hard to 'update' their memories."

"We want to believe what we already believe, so if there's something out there that supports our biases or preconceived notions then of course we want to cling to that. That, in turn, makes it harder for other people to correct that misinformation."

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