A shelter in England has gotten some pretty ridiculous feedback.
When asking adopters if they were flexible with the color cat they were interested in, the cat rehoming shelter The Moggery in Bristol, England would get the answer "yes, as long as it's not black."
While black cats have always had trouble getting adopted from shelters due to their unfair association with bad luck, the shelter says it's worse now more than ever. Founder of The Moggery told Unilad.
It's worse now because black cats don't show up in selfies. Now everybody wants to take selfies and put them on Facebook. It's a very narcissistic use of social media.
The Moggery has near 40 black cats that need to go to good homes.
It is true that shelters have a hard time finding good homes for black cats. But the reason that they are bad in selfies is a new one and a shallow one. Some shelters have found creative ways to photograph their black cats. They found more success with adoptions if they shared photos of their black cats outside or with toys.
Amy Buckle, branch manager at the Last Chance Animal Rescue Center in New Romney, Kent, says they too have black cats up for adoption but hopes that the selfie reason isn't true.
She said:
We always have the most difficulty rehoming black cats.
Even when we have a litter of all black kittens, as soon as you have a fluffy ginger kitten, that's it - people don't want to know about the black cats.
I don't know if it's because people don't think they look as pretty in photos - it could well be. It's a real shame.
People do these days seem caught up in taking photos and putting them on Facebook and Instagram, and they want almost a model animal that they can put across social media.
It does leave the black cats ignored for some reason. It seems people find them boring.
When people come in to meet the cats quite often they will just bypass and walk straight past the black cats to a fluffy, ginger cat. It's really, really sad.
Judging by social media, though, most cat owners are not bothered about the fact their cats are black. They don't think their cats are boring at all...
https://www.instagram.com/p/Beq8FZyHYRo/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Beq8AsilOW8/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Beg1i4XBNBw/
Take the time to appreciate black cats today and share this with anyone you know who is looking to adopt a cat. Black cats are beautiful and don't deserve the unfair stigma we humans have given them. They deserve loving homes just as much as their ginger counterparts.
This post was originally published on February 1, 2018, but we feel that the message is still just as important today as it was one year ago.
Do you have a black cat? Tell us in the comments below.
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