Yes, it’s OK to adopt a black cat in Halloween season

So right about now, on national #BlackCatDay, you’ve spent so much time looking at adorable black kitties online that you’re thinking you just have to have one.

Who cares that some people think they bring back luck? Just look at these adorable kittens.

But is Halloween the purr-fect time of year to adopt a black cat? Of course, say a growing number of animal shelters.

For years shelters and rescue groups were extra protective of black cats around Halloween out of fear that people might use them as holiday props or for unseemly, abusive fright night activities. Many instituted black-out dates for October adoptions.

Two years ago a spokesperson for the Animal Welfare League in the Chicago area told Gizmodo that the group wouldn’t adopt out a solid black or solid white cat around Halloween because “there’s a lot of weirdos out there.”

But those bans have loosened. Some shelters now sponsor special black cat adoption promotions and awareness campaigns in October, using the trick-or-treat season to spotlight an animal that doesn’t always get a lot of love.

“Some now offer adoption deals and waived fees as a way to showcase cats whose coloring might make them less desirable than their tabby and calico siblings, but are no less sweet,” reports Smithsonian magazine.

The Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, for instance, is offering a $75 gift certificate to a local cafe to anyone who adopts a black kitten or cat this month, according to the East Hampton Star in New York.

The Animal Rescue League of Iowa, which like other shelters across the country has abandoned its longstanding policy of restricting October black cat adoptions, this month featured a black cat named Midnight in its adoption campaign with the Des Moines Register.

“Research has shown that black cats are in no greater danger around the Halloween holiday than any other time of year,” the ARL wrote. “For many years it was common practice for animal shelters – including the ARL – to suspend black cat adoptions around Halloween, but that worry has proved to be unfounded.

“Many more lives have been saved as shelters have come to understand that their fear was based on myth and not fact.”

The Kentucky Humane Society has a page on its website dedicated to “Debunking the Black Cat Myth.”

Rumor: That black cats will fall victim to ritualistic abuse or sacrifice at Halloween.

Experts at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, Best Friends Animal Society and other animal welfare organizations have found no evidence of that, the website says.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, however, recommends that black cats, which can be an “easy target for Halloween pranksters who commit violent acts against unsuspecting kitties,” be kept indoors in October — and all year, for that matter.

“Every October, we have concerned people posting on our Facebook page, pleading with us to cease all black cat adoptions near Halloween,” Kentucky Humane Society spokeswoman Andrea Blair says on its website.

“They have the very best intentions, but the unintended consequences are the perpetuation of the myth – which leads to black cats spending even more time in shelters.”

Black cats already have a hard enough time getting adopted because they’re so steeped in superstition, advocates say.

“People believed that witches would adopt black cats and use them for their rituals or wrongdoings,” Robyn Barbiers, the president of the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago, told DNA Info. “It’s proven not to be the case at all.”

Black cats can take two to three times longer to be adopted than cats of other colors, and often have the highest euthanasia rates among all cats. The last thing shelters want to do is “put up barriers that make it even harder for them to find loving homes,” says Blair.

If you do try to adopt a black cat this month expect to be held to the stringent adoption guidelines, often involving an application and interview process, followed by most shelters.

In some places, you might even get a harder stare.

The Animal Control facility in Clayton County, Georgia, is giving special attention to people wanting to adopt black cats right now “to ensure that the animals are not being sought solely to accessorize Halloween activities,” Sgt. Ashanti Marbury told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“We want to ensure the animals will not end up discarded and homeless after Halloween by doing everything that we can to confirm that the individuals adopting the animals have every intent to keep and care for them.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Yes, it’s OK to adopt a black cat in Halloween season."