Hundreds of black cats are being abandoned by their owners because they don't look good in SELFIES

• RSPCA says 70 per cent of the 1,000 abandoned cats in its care are black
  
• Charity says they are less popular as their features don't show up in photos
  
• Black cats are also harder to tell apart than others with distinctive markings
  
• Millwood Cat Rescue Centre in Nottinghamshire took in nine in two weeks
  
• Its founder Ronnie McMillen says: 'People don't like black at the moment'
  
• Black cat owner Gabriella Fletcher, 20, says: 'It's hard to get a good picture but she's beautiful'

By Harriet Arkell
Published: 16:18 GMT, 29 July 2014 | Updated: 05:18 GMT, 30 July 2014



They may be the symbol of good luck, but black cats have drawn the short straw in one respect: they don't look good in selfies.

Today the RSPCA announced a rise in the number of black cats being abandoned by their owners, and attributed it to them not photographing well.

A spokesman for the animal welfare charity said that more than 70 per cent of the 1,000 cats in its care were black, and blamed the trend for people taking pictures of themselves with their phones.

He said: 'There are a number of reasons for us having so many black cats, including the fact that black animals tend not to photograph as well as other cats with more distinctive markings.

....more at link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... LFIES.html

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Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

'Generation selfie' is spurning black cats

The Mail claims that darker moggies are left behind in rescue centres because they don't take a good selfie. But who cares? Forget being an unlucky omen, they're easily the most intelligent

• Pets with black fur: why don't you look good on social media?



Historically speaking, black cats have always had a slightly rougher time of things than more colourful cats. In 1600s America, pilgrims caught with a black cat would be routinely killed, or at least severely punished. In medieval Europe, cats of a darker hue were often burned on midsummer bonfires.

Arguably even worse, this week the Daily Mail has claimed black cats are rubbish at selfies: a deficiency that is apparently prompting fewer people to adopt them from rescue centres.

Looking behind the story's overdramatic headline, it seems that no rescue centre or cat charity has specifically cited the selfie as a reason for the lack of black cat adoptions.

Some have merely suggested that the fact that black cats don't photograph well sometimes puts would-be adopters off in our camera-crazed age. Whether this is true or not, black cats have long been unfairly overlooked at rescue centres, and can be found sulking out back, looking a bit sorry for themselves. Ronnie McMillen, founder of the Millwood Cat Rescue Centre in Nottingham, claims many adopters "look at black cats and then just say, 'Oh, have you got anything else?'" Perhaps more gaudy cats seem more appealing to some people. People who, in short, know very little about cats.

...more at link
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... black-cats

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I think black cats are beautiful.

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