Black Cats in Italy

Cat aficionados in Italy don’t care what color their favorite cats are because they know that coat-color doesn’t have anything to do with the feline personality, per se. But Halloween party-goers and satanic worshippers still provoke attention when it comes to black cats in Italy. All across Italy, cat rescue associations do stop adopting out black cats during October and November.

At the nonprofit cat refuge, Associazione Il Gattile onlus, where I volunteer in the city of Trieste, we block adoptions of black adult cats from about mid-October through the beginning of November. People seem to have black cats on their minds because of Halloween (October 31^st), All Saints’ Day (Nov 1^st), the Day of the Dead (Nov 2^nd), and other significant dates for satanic worshippers. While this last group is a definite minority, cases of rituals using animals do happen, and make for sensational news reports.

Why do we block adoptions during this period? Because in 2009, Mr. Giorgio Cociani, the president of the association, with health department officials and the police, have verified the remains of black cats (among other animals – namely, chickens and goats) used in satanic rituals or pseudo devil-worshipping ceremonies in the Carso highland area of Trieste, near the Slovenian border. Also, in the past, we’ve had university students come innocently asking to adopt a young black cat for a Halloween party or for their girlfriend’s costume (!).

This year, during this period of October - November, I was able to find four foster homes and worked on adopting out a few black kittens that were only waiting in their holding boxes. Luckily, the adopters who came to simply adopt a cat, just fell in love with cats that happened to be black. And through post-adoption contact, we receive lovely photos. While cats are living a general popularity the superstitions about black cats are only now being overcome. Luckily, there are positive signs by pet loving Italians and animal associations work to demystify superstitions through education. Such as the recently held talk in Milano by an animal protection association OIPA Italia, “Beastly Mysteries, Dispelling Myths about Black Cats and Other Animals”.

Kathy T. Hisamatsu, cat rescue volunteer

www.catsinitaly.com

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14