The Myth of Salem: Black Cat Adoption
Many people are familiar with the famous fictional character, Salem Saberhagen, the black cat witch familiar from Archie Comics and the 1990’s TV show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”. With his sass and obsession for world domination, Salem became a favorite character among the viewers of the show. I believe, on some level, this character helped bring awareness to the plight of black cats in animal shelters.
I am part of a Facebook group community of black cat lovers that people from all over the world participate in. Many people have cats named Salem and others have named their cat Binx after the cat from Disney’s 1993 film “Hocus Pocus”. Members tend to adopt or inherit black cats through different situations, because it a known fact, that black cats take longer to be placed in homes. Black is a dominant color in cats, so there is an influx of black cats coming to shelters. According to the ASPCA, recent studies show that the highest number of adopted cats by color is black, but that also means black cats that are not adopted at kill shelters are euthanized. Cats with color patterns and those lighter in color tend to draw adopters.
One of the best ways to help the plight of not just black cats, but all homeless cats, is population control through spay and neuter. According to the Humane Society in 2014, 6–8 million cats and dogs taken into shelters and only 4 million were adopted. Approximately 70% of the cats in shelters were euthanized. Growing up in NH, I saw shelters and rescues taking in the overflow of kittens and cats from shelters in the south. A decent amount of these cats were black ones who had a stronger chance of adoption in the north than they did in the south. And even in NH, I have noticed some black cats sitting at the shelter, just a bit longer than others.
While statistics are not clear, there are still people in the modern day world that believe black cats may be evil or bring bad luck. Some shelters ban black cat adoptions during the month of October in order to protect the cats from being abused and used for sacrifice by those who may practice in black occult. And some people might just think black cats are ugly, and skip over them for adoption.
I fell in love with black cats because of the cats from my childhood shows. I knew my first cat would be a black cat from the time I was a twelve. I saw him listed on Petfinder.com at my local Humane Society and they called him Sable. Personally, I felt this name fit a female cat more and I renamed him Salem Sebastian. He crawled into my lap and purred when I visited with him and I knew I was going to bring him home. Two additional cats later, he is still the sweetest of my cats and sits on my lap every evening.
So, even if you do not think you want a black cat, please just stop for a minute to meet one or two at the shelter. A black cat can reach your heart just as much, or even more than the cat whose color you liked.
Sources:
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html
https://www.aspcapro.org/blog/2016/10/19/black-still-new-white
