FORT MYERS, Fla. — Two kitties now have themselves a new home almost 5,000 miles from their birthplace.
While there are some people who still hate,fear and despise black cats. These two kitties were “sent for” because of the fact that they are black.
Mau and Lua flew to Denmark, about 4,800 miles from here, because their new owners, Per and Emely Larsen, absolutely fell in love with a black cat several years ago when they lived out in Las Vegas. They adopted the kitten, from a PetSmart there.
Sadly, Lucas died of cancer at the age of 6.
“They loved its personality so much they wanted another one — a plain, ordinary black cat, the kind nobody around here wants,” said Executive Director Marnie Miszewski of Helping Paws Animal Sanctuary, a shelter on Pine Island that holds almost 200 healthy and special-needs cats.
The Larsens had returned to Denmark, and Denmark doesn’t have American shorthair cats, much less black ones.
In the United States, domestic shorthairs are common and plentiful. And black cats are hard to get adopted, in part of course, because of superstition.
“I absolutely adore black cats,” Miszewski said. “They are smart, active and super playful.”
The Larsens had emailed Alliance, Ohio-based Cat Fanciers’ Association, Inc to ask about a kitten. The organization referred them to Miszewski.
“Needless to say, I was thrilled at the possibility to find a home for a lucky black cat,” she said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have any black kittens at the time.”
But she knew that Lee County Animal Services did, so she took her laptop computer over to the shelter and met with Michele Penney who is the cat kennel supervisor.
Together, they selected two black kittens. Holding the laptop and pointing it in the direction of the kitties, the Larsens watched the animals run around on live video using Skype.
The couple ended up falling in love with not just one black cat, but two.
Initally, the Larsens planned to come to Florida to pick up the cats but decided not to after November’s Paris terror attacks. Instead, they worked with a Tampa-based pet air rescue operation which later delivered the cats to Europe.
They ended up spending more than a $3,000, according to Miszewski.