Unfounded claims that pupils are identifying as cats and demanding litter trays in toilets are spreading to other schools across the north and north-east.
Earlier this week, a string of posts on social media alleged, without evidence, that some pupils at Banff Academy were making the unusual request to be treated like cats.
Despite Aberdeenshire Council making it clear that these were “false rumours” – which have also appeared at schools around the world – others have insisted that their children are not lying.
And in the wake of the Banff Academy hoax, The Press and Journal understands that similar unfounded claims about children identifying as cats are circulating in other schools, including Hazlehead and Bridge of Don academies and unnamed Highland Council schools.
Aberdeen City Council was asked if there was any truth to the claims, but a spokesman said the local authority “won’t be providing comment in response to this enquiry”.
Meanwhile, a Highland Council spokeswoman called the rumours a “hoax”.
Reactions to the story on The P&J and Evening Express Facebook pages show that some Banff parents continue to put stock in the claims.
Confusion reigns on social media
One said: “My nephew insists it’s true. He says one wears cat ears and a tail.”
Facebook user Ricola Redmonds, said: “My daughter says there is a girl in her school that’s identifying as a cat….also has a name of someone is identifying as an animal!!!”
But another Banff mum, Corrine Green, said she’s confident there’s no truth in the claims.
She said: “My kid goes to this school and he hasn’t seen anyone looking like a cat, I think I will believe the teachers.”
Others have suggested that students are fuelling the rumours as a joke.
“Ahh yes, teenagers would never make up something,” a Facebook user named Mark Kullas wrote. “They are always the paragons of truth and absolutely would not lie to you if they found it really funny.”
Another Facebook user, Ag Petrie, pointed out how similar stories spread around the world in recent months, all without proof: “It’s a story that has been going around far-right American religious secs for months, no real shock that it’s been used here.
“Disinformation is a powerful weapon used to stir up moral panic.”
‘An urban legend’
And another user said that there is a common format to these rumours when they appear in different parts of the world.
“I’ve been told this story about ‘my local school’ by people in 2 countries and 5 different cities,” wrote Jennie Carlsten.
“It’s basically an urban legend. Except it is being deliberately spread as misinformation by people with a political agenda, and those too stupid to see that.”
Other commenters suggested that students were behaving in this way in Shetland and the Highlands, but did not provide any proof.
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “Highland Council was aware of these claims and considered them to be a hoax.”
While many readers dismissed the idea, some Facebook users said that the apparent absurdity of the rumour is a point in its favour.
One user named Louise Forbes said: “Of course it’s true, this is not the kind of story someone would make up!!”
So where does this idea come from?
Rumours of schools installing litter boxes for students who choose to identify as cats began circulating in 2021.
They appeared primarily on far-right social media channels and news networks in the United States. In a few instances, high-profile political candidates, including multiple members of the United States House of Representatives, spread the rumours.
In each case, the local authorities and schools in question dismissed talk of litter boxes as rumours.
The claims were often used to criticise ways in which schools are making accommodations for trans students.
In April 2022, PolitiFact, a fact-checking website run by the American non-profit Poynter Institute for Media Studies, said that it had not found “any credible news reports that say schools are providing litter boxes.”
