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As classes resume for another school year, Hillsborough County Animal Services has teamed up with the Best Friends Animal Society to go "Back in Black," by offering reduced adoption fees on a special group of needy shelter pets. There's no better time to adopt and save money!
Through mid-September, all black and mostly black-colored dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens will be offered at 50 percent off of their regular adoption fee.
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"Back in Black" is a national awareness campaign targeting overlooked black and mostly black-colored adoptable animals of all ages, breeds, sizes, and personalities.
These darker dogs and cats suffer from what shelters around the country commonly call "black pet syndrome," a preference by shoppers to select more fair-haired companions.
This behavior is likely the result of outdated superstitions about black pets. It may also result from an adopter's inability to connect with black animals whose fur appears to obscure their equally dark eyes. Whatever the case, evidence has shown that black animals are undeniably the most challenging to adopt out.
Of course you've made the connection, haven't you? If not, see
here.
7 comments:
Interesting. I had no idea until I read this post and then, this morning at the bus stop a lady asked me about our new black dog and said, "you did such a good thing, by rescuing a black dog -- they're the hardest color animal to place, you knew that, right?"
I didn't, but I knew our girl needed a better home than she'd been in and so we brought her into our family.
Yikes!!So scary
Growing up in a home with outdoor cats, it was only our black cat who ever came home missing stripes of fur where neighborhood kids had decided to experiment with razors.
As an adult, my cats have all been indoor kitties so we don't have to worry about neighbors or coyotes, but my black cats have been my quietest, the most sensitive to my moods and thoroughly fabulous pets. And anytime I start to say that to people who avoid black pets, I think about how it would sound if I said it about my daughter and I cringe.
I didn't know this. We adopted a black dog from the pound, but I had no idea they were considered less desired. As far as the inference, I suspect the link is weak and with pets the spooky factor is more at play... or as a culture are we resistent to bringing anything black into our homes?
discounted black pets, discounted black kids...it is so sad that we as a whole cannot learn to find beauty in all varieties of people and pets.
Seriously? Our SPCA shelter always can find homes for black cats, people seem to like them. We've always had black cats as pets. In the US they are supposedly "bad luck" but my friend from the UK tells me that black cats are lucky there, and that white cats are "bad luck". I emailed a friend who works at a shelter and she said there isn't any color preference with those who come in looking for pets, there's more of a gender preference.....hmmm, that could be the next blog post.
Oh, I've already posted about gender preferences in adoption:
http://tinyurl.com/3loejqw
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