SF Chronicle: Black cats, take note: Beware of people crossing
your path. They’re likely to bring bad luck. According to a UC
Berkeley study, black cats are unfairly stereotyped and far less
likely than their fair-haired, blue-eyed cousins to be adopted
at animal shelters. In fact, orange or Siamese cats are usually
adopted within their first day at a shelter. Black cats can
languish for months because of people’s preconceptions about
their personalities and behavior, according to Mikel Delgado, a
UC Berkeley doctorate student who authored the study. Shelters
have known this for years. Black cats are far more likely to be
euthanized than other cats, shelter staffers say. “Black cats
are some of the most sleek, clothing-friendly cats. You won’t
have little white hairs over everything. But for some reason,
they are, hands down, the hardest to find homes for,” said
Willow Liroff, head cat volunteer at the Oakland Animal Shelter.
About half the cats at the Oakland and San Francisco shelters
are black or mostly bl