Fewer Black Cats Adopted Due to Halloween Hijinks, Stigma reports Your Healthy Cat

(EstateNewsWire.com, October 31, 2012 ) San Francisco, CA -- Until recently, many animal welfare agencies sought to ban the adoption of black cats shortly before Halloween each year.

Those advocating for animals feared that black cats would end up serving as a live props at Halloween parties at best, or, at worst, tortured and ritually sacrificed by some All Hallows Eve celebrants.

Over the last few years, however, animal welfare agencies have retracted their assertions that black cat adoptions near Halloween equal black cat endangerment.

In fact, the Canadian Press reports that the Ontario and Nova Scotia Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals promote the adoption of black cats during October by offering $5 off the adoption price.

"We always have a lot of cats in our care and really we're just going along with the theme of the holidays,” said Allison Cross, Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals communications manager. “It's just a fun way that allows us to promote these cats that are constantly looking for homes.”

Humane Society branches throughout the nation agree that lifting the ban was beneficial to black cats.

"All this urban myth was doing was preventing us from getting black cats into homes and it wasn't actually doing anything to deter people who are trying to get cats for bad purposes," Windsor/Essex County Humane Society executive director, Melanie Coulter said.

"There's enough cats out there that are easy for someone to obtain. If you want a cat for a Halloween sacrifice, you can get one on Kijiji for free," she added.

Some people do still seek out black cats simply because it is nearly Halloween, however.

"It still does happen where people are coming in and literally looking for an animal and it turns out what they're looking for is black cats to act as a Halloween party prop," said Barbara Steinhoff, communications director for the Toronto Humane Society. "It's becoming fewer and further between, but it can happen."

As it turns out, black cats tend to be the least adopted felines in general, in part owing to myths that they bring bad luck.

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Mike Rudy

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