Throughout history, Western culture has had a love-hate relationship with cats, and black cats always get the worst end of the deal.
Although the ancient Egyptians honored cats, our culture has maintained various unpleasant and unfair superstitions about them. Starting in the Middle Ages, certain groups associated cats with witchcraft and evil doings and believed that witches could turn themselves into cats.
Far too often, misguided ideas about felines have led to violence against cats and the people who cared for them. For instance, in the 16th and 17th centuries, tens of thousands of cats and the people who protected them were cruelly put to death.
Today, although cats are the most popular pet in the United States and other Western countries, an evil anti-cat bias persists, sometimes with disturbing echoes from past generations. Unfortunately, some unstable people who have been exposed to malicious and hateful attitudes toward cats use Halloween as an excuse to capture and viciously abuse them, as many of u have seen ourselves on the internet.
Because the Halloween season seems to be such a dangerous time for cats in general and black cats in particular, many shelters refuse to allow the adoption of black cats during the entire month of October. Unfortunately, this does not protect cats who are normally outside or feral from would-be sadists and other miscreants at Halloween-time.
Felines face additional dangers and challenges during Halloween that typically do not occur with other holidays. On Halloween night, there are great numbers of people outside, including children who may be quite rowdy on this occasion. Teens and adults attending or returning home from Halloween parties may be emboldened by the role-playing and faux-satanic nature of the event—and possibly the influence of alcohol—to commit acts of cruelty toward cats which otherwise might never cross their minds (or at least be stifled by common sense).
Bear it all in mind that Halloween parties may take place throughout October and even early November.
Combine all these dangers with the increased traffic, noise, and shouting present during Halloween festivities, and the great outdoors can turn into a very frightening, unsafe place for a cat.
