PRESS RELEASE

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

Melanie Norton, Director of Public Relations

Office (760) 839-7976 / Cell (760) 505-9893

ESCONDIDO HUMANE SOCIETY PUTS HALLOWEEN
CATS ON HOLD, OCTOBER 17

ESCONDIDO, CA—October 7, 2002—Witches will be without their black cats this Halloween, if the folks at the Escondido Humane Society have it their way. October 17 will be the last day that solid black and solid white cats can be adopted from Escondido Humane Society’s PETsMART adoption units, until after Halloween.
“There are some groups that believe in sacrificing black cats on Halloween because they’re thought to be evil, and white cats because they’re thought to be pure”, says Director of Animal Services Denice Beeson. “To be on the safe side, we halt adoptions of solid black and solid white cats two weeks before Halloween. People can still reserve them, but they can’t take them home until after Halloween.”

Another motivation for halting black cat adoptions is that it deters impulse adoptions. Just as rabbit adoptions increase at Easter time, so do black cat adoptions at Halloween. Once the novelty wears off, the pets are abandoned.  Some of the cats might end up homeless while the others are taken to animal shelters.  Since not all animal shelters have a "no kill" policy, a cat's future at an animal shelter isn't always a good one. 

With construction on the new EHS animal shelter underway, cat adoptions are conducted out of two PETsMART stores. (in Vista on University Dr. & in San Diego on Murphy Canyon Rd.) For more information, call (760) 839-0293.

Tips for keeping pets safe this Halloween:

1. Keep cats inside a closed room where they can’t slip out when trick-or-treaters visit.

2. Keep Halloween candy up high where pets can’t get into it. Candy, and particularly chocolate, is very dangerous for dogs.

3. Keep pets away from candle-lit jack-o-lanterns which can easily cause fur to catch fire.

4. Don’t bring dogs trick-or-treating. There’s too much commotion even for well behaved dogs.

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