For the Times Herald-Record Published: 03/11/11
the Pets of the Week pages today duplicating black cats. And yes, I know it's not Halloween. I just think it's time to end a superstitious prejudice. When it comes to being unlucky, black cats top the list. Unlucky for them, that is, NOT for us. They are unlucky only because they are the last cats to be adopted, because of the public's preconceived notion that they bring bad luck. 'She has been a blessing' Shadow is a sweet, mushy black cat owned by a friend of mine, Patty Gorman of Pine Bush. "Every morning she greets me with her happy purring," Gorman said. "She is a good companion and an attention hog, but there's nothing scary or bad about Shadow. She has been a blessing in our lives." Doris Bouckenooghe of Milford, Pa., owns two black cats, Reggie and Lucie. Reggie rolls over for belly rubs and loves Bouckenooghe's bed. "When I look in my room, I see a big lump under the covers, and it makes me laugh," she said. "He gets under without messing the bed. We are very lucky to have these beautiful black cats." Michelle Gorta, director of the Canine Sanctuary, believes black cats may even be magical, having rescued more black cats in her career than those of any other color. "Their stories are always either dramatic or simply miraculous in how they survived to be rescued," Gorta said.
A badly injured black kitten Gorta rescued about 10 years ago miraculously recovered with just a small limp. He refused to be an indoor-only kitty, so Gorta let him out one day. "He only came back around my property once in a while, and went up behind my house into the mountain to live," she said. On a Christmas Day, when Gorta and her sister, Leslie Gorta, sat by the fire longing for their wandering ebony feline, he miraculously walked through the doggie door. "He only stayed one night and then headed back out up into his mountain to live," she said. Our shelter folk are saddened to watch adopters come and go without a black cat in their arms. 'Bad luck? Never!' Humane Society of Walden Manager Barbara Williams reports that 70 percent of the cats in her shelter are black. "I've always had a black cat," she said, "and never considered them to be unlucky. I was the lucky one to have them as my pets." "We actually have an anonymous donor that sponsored all of the black cats' adoption fees to help get them adopted faster," said Ulster County SPCA cat attendant Melissa Tiano. When I asked Suzyn Barron, president of the Warwick Valley Humane Society, for a quote about the 14 all-black cats at her shelter, she said simply, "Help!" Chris Cerillo, shelter worker at Mid-Hudson Animal Aid, adopted an MHAA black kitten despondent over the adoption of her mom and sister. "She brings nothing but happiness," said Cerillo. "Bad luck? Never." In some parts of the world, black cats are considered lucky. |
Photo - Toni Lund