Black cat adoptions to be paused at local shelter during October 2024

RALEIGH COUNTY, WV (WVNS) — With the start of October kicking off spooky season, a local shelter put black cat adoptions on pause until the first week of November 2024.

According to a post on the Humane Society of Raleigh County’s Facebook page, the adoptions of black cats will be paused at the shelter during the month of October 2024 to ensure the well-being of the felines.

The shelter stated that the pausing of black cat adoptions is due to people often treating black cats like temporary accessories during October before the animals are returned after Halloween, similar to how rabbits, chicks, and ducklings are viewed around Easter.

Not only are the adoptions of black cats paused due to often being returned after the holiday, the adoptions are also paused because some people may want to harm black cats around Halloween due to superstitions .

There are many superstitions that surround black cats. History.com stated that the origin of superstitions surrounding black cats can be traced back hundreds of years to locations such as Ancient Egypt and 13th century Europe. In an official church document in 13th century Europe, Pope Gregory IX declared them “incarnations of Satan” and that possibly helped start church-sanctioned witch hunts.

Black cats were also often associated with witches who respected nature and animals in medieval Europe. As a result, people suspected of being witches and especially those who also had cats, were viewed with suspicion. However, this is not the only connection that the church made between witches and cats. The personalities of a cat different than the personality of dogs, and many people did not like their independence.

While it is not clear when the superstition centered around black cats and witches instead of cats in general, it is thought that it could be due to a black cat’s ability to blend in with their surroundings at night.

Not only were people suspicious of black cats, the felines were often killed in the Middle Ages, due to some people who blamed the cats for the spread of the Bubonic Plague. With the decline of the numbers of cats, the rodent population that spread the plague faced less resistance.

History.com stated that people in medieval Europe also believed that witches and the devil could take the form of a cat, which helped create the superstition of a black cat crossing your path being a bad omen.

Although there are superstitions surrounding black cats, there are places that do not believe that they are a bad omen. Cats were honored in Ancient Egypt, and there are countries and cultures that view the felines as good luck.

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