Camilla

Chopper

The Seattle Humane Society will give Camilla and Chopper a safe place to live for as long as it takes to find them new families. But they may end up staying at the shelter longer than some of their lighter-coated shelter-mates.

Black dogs and cats have a harder time finding homes. It's a well-known fact in animal rescue work and has been covered by news outlets ranging from MSN and the Associated Press, to People Magazine. Bark Magazine wrote about it last year in an article that featured Tamara Delany, a Wisconsin resident who runs a website (www.blackpearldogs.com) dedicated to calling attention to the problem. The evidence is all anecdotal; it seems ripe for study by some graduate student in social physiology.

I checked in with Katie Olsen, Shelter Manager for the Seattle Humane Society and she concurs. "We do find that is takes black dogs and cats longer to find homes than a pet of a different color," she says.

I had no idea. In my adult life, I've adopted nine companion animals – and all but two have been predominantly black. I only remember color acting as a deciding factor once; when my husband and I adopted Kali, our tiny Bombay cat, from a shelter twelve years ago. We deliberately chose her for her color, since Halloween was just around the corner and we knew we could keep her safe. The fact that she viciously "attacked" my husband's shoe laces (with all of the ferocity she could muster in her 4 lb. body) certainly also featured in our decision.

Kali

Brenda Barnette, CEO of the Seattle Humane Society, says that in spite of 'black dog syndrome' many people are attracted to dark coated animals. "People who have pets with black fur love their sleek and shiny look," she says.

Though MSN calls it 'doggie discrimination', no one really knows what causes black animals to be overlooked. It might be superstition, as in the case of black cats, or stereotypes; in literature black dogs, for instance the Hound of the Baskervilles and the Grim in the Harry Potter books, are symbols of death and fear. Or maybe it's something as simple as the lighting in shelters, which can sometimes make it harder to see the features and expressions of a darker animal.

Whatever the cause of the phenomenon, keep cats like Camilla and dogs like Chopper in mind the next time you are thinking of adding a new member to your family.

Lynn
lynnseattlehumane@gmail.com