by Linda Rodriguez
People
are afraid of many things. The saddest is the fear of black cats and
dogs. Because of this fear, more black cats and dogs are euthanized
by kill shelters than other colors. People are afraid to adopt them
because they’re black, and these shelters, which usually have to
euthanize because they’re public shelters and have to keep taking
in all surrendered/lost pets brought to them, must kill them when
they’ve been there too long and space gets short. Because of this
problem, many of these shelters periodically offer “sales” on
black cats and dogs—half-off adoption fees, very low adoption fees,
even sometimes no adoption fees.
The
prejudice against black cats and dogs goes back a long way to old
superstitions about them being the devil’s animals and being bad
luck. I could trace these legends back to their beginnings in the
battle between religions where the animals were simply used as props
and propaganda weapons by the warring sides, but I’m not going to
burden this blog with that today. It’s a shame that companion
animals have to be dragged into our human quarrels in this way.
The
only thing sadder than a rejected black pet is an older cat or dog
who’s also black. No one wants these. You combine the prejudice
against older animals with the prejudice against black animals and
come up with a stone wall these cats and dogs can’t get over, no
matter how sweet, cute, bright, well-behaved, and gentle they are. If
you talk to anyone in the rescue business or look on any of their
websites, you’ll quickly find that this is a sad, basic truth in
the world of those who care for and try to find permanent homes for
older, black pets.
 |
| My dog, Dyson |
The
silliest part of it, to me, is that the pet doesn’t even have to be
all black, certainly not if it’s a dog. Check out your local humane
shelter’s “black dog sale,” and you’ll find that dogs that
are only part black are included in the sale because they’re
included in people’s prejudices against black animals. My own
rescue dog is a Plott hound with the typical brindle brown coat, but
because he has a black saddle on his back, he was deemed a black dog
and unadoptable.
Rescue
and shelter animals have enough prejudice against them. Every year,
approximately 3-4 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters.
These are animals people gave up and threw out, or the offspring of
such animals. It’s getting worse because many families have lost
homes and been forced to move to apartments that refuse animals,
causing them to surrender family pets if they can’t find friends to
take them. Yet still, people pay big bucks to buy dogs and cats from
breeders—and oddly enough, many of those wanted, purchased purebred
dogs and cats (but more often dogs) find their ways into shelters
around the country. I’ve been taking in shelter dogs all my adult
life, and I’ve noticed a big change there. It used to be rare to
find a purebred animal at a shelter. Now, they’ve all got some, and
often quite a number of them.
I
can’t stress enough how important I feel it is to give homes to
shelter/rescue cats and dogs, if you can and if you are looking for a
pet. They make grateful, loyal, and affectionate pets, and you’re
quite literally saving a life when you do. And while you’re looking
for a good pet at your local shelter, please, please don’t bypass
the older, black animals in your search. Older, black cats and dogs
are at the highest risk of being euthanized because no one wants
them. Take one home and bask in its love and affection. You’ll be
glad you did as the years in company with your faithful pet slip
past.
Linda Rodriguez's Plotting the
Character-Driven Novel, based on her popular workshop, and The
World Is One Place: Native American Poets Visit the Middle East,
an anthology she co-edited, are her newest books. Every Family
Doubt, her fourth mystery novel featuring Cherokee campus police
chief, Skeet Bannion, will appear in autumn, 2017. Her three earlier
Skeet novels—Every Hidden Fear, Every Broken Trust,
and Every Last Secret—and
her books of poetry—Skin Hunger
and Heart's Migration—have
received critical recognition and awards, such as St. Martin's
Press/Malice Domestic Best First Novel, International
Latino Book Award, Latina Book Club Best Book of 2014, Midwest Voices
& Visions, Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award, Thorpe Menn Award, and
Ragdale and Macondo fellowships. Her short story, “The Good
Neighbor,” published in the anthology, Kansas City Noir, has
been optioned for film.
Rodriguez is past chair of the AWP
Indigenous Writer’s Caucus, past president of Border Crimes chapter
of Sisters in Crime, founding board member of Latino Writers
Collective and The Writers Place, and a member of International
Thriller Writers, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and
Storytellers, and Kansas City Cherokee Community. Visit her at
http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com
