I remember when I was a kid and my parents always had a ton of cats.
At one point, I remember three girl cats getting pregnant at once and we had something like 18 cats at once more or less (most of them being kittens obviously).
Quite often a lot of the cats would be black or white colored.
Not all of them.
But many of them were.
Little did I know that, if my parents were living in Mexico, we could've made a killing selling them to some Mexican folks in October.
A literal killing.
But plenty of profit!
The reason for that is simple: you learn that October is the month of sacrificing white and black cats for the holidays near the end of the month.
It's a detail you learn about life down here as adoption agencies and normal folks always warn on Facebook and other social media against people giving up their black and white cats for adoption during this time of the year.
For that exact reason.
After all, you don't know if the cats are being adopted to someone who wants to give them a good life or take away their life.
In fact, as you can see here, this is one example of a group recommending against giving your black and white cats up for adoption during this time of the year.
But what else could be said about this topic?
Why Does This Happen?
According to this article here (among many others), this isn't actually a myth that people spread online but is actually reality.
We have this interesting quote here:
..."durante la noche de Halloween, los grupos satánicos derraman la sangre de gatos completamente negros (o blancos) que representan pureza y sirven para estos rituales."
Basically, during the night of Halloween, you have satantic groups that spill the blood of cats that are either completely white or completely black for their rituals as they are seen as pure.
Now that I think about it, none of my cats growing up were completely black or completely white. Plenty mixed of both colors though.
Still, are there any examples of this actually happening?
The Ecuadorian Example
While I'm sure not every example is a clear cut case, there are some examples out there that seem suspicious enough as to possibly being a case where a cat got abused during Halloween night.
First, we have this example from Ecuador that the last article cited gives us here with this quote:
"En Ecuador no hay cifras específicas sobre este caso, pero sí hay casos de rescate de animales que sufrieron torturas por esta época. July Ruiz, es comunicadora, y hace un par de años evidenció esta situación. Encontró un gatito negro -justo después de Halloween- con las pestañas y el pelaje quemado, la pata derecha rota, dos uñas extraídas y lesión del tórax. Además del maltrato, estaba asustado y fue difícil que volviera a confiar en los humanos. Tomó mucha paciencia y cuidado, para que Salem -así se llama ahora- entendiera que sí puede tener una segunda oportunidad en un hogar amoroso. Esta es una foto de cómo se ve una segunda oportunidad para un gato negro."
To summarize the main points above for those who don't speak Spanish, it gives a case where someone named July found a black cat after Halloween time that had been injured quite badly.
Among many of the other cats they find around this year that have been hurt (even though no official numbers exist on how many face this type of abuse around Halloween).
And it goes on to say that the cat had burned eyelashes and fur, a broken right leg, two extracted nails and a chest injury.
At any rate, the cat didn't trust humans again for quite a while but now has a name known as Salem and is doing better with a second chance.
The Rising Number of Dead Animals in Mexico City
Next, we have this article here with this specific quote.
"Activistas del movimiento para la liberación animal prevén que en esta temporada, el número de animales muertos arrojados a la vía pública en Ciudad de México y que se utilizaron en algún rito pase de 2 a más de 10 por semana."
Basically, it was predicted by some animal activists that the number of dead animals thrown onto public roads in Mexico City will increase from 2 a week to more than 10 a week this month in October.
That number is based on past experiences.
We then have this interesting bit here:
“Hemos detectado que hay temporadas donde los rituales aumentan, que están muy relacionado con las fiestas católicas, que son aquellas como la Semana Santa, la Navidad y tenemos también el Día de Muertos, en estas fechas aumentan las cajas con animales muertos que llegamos a encontrar en las calles de esta ciudad, principalmente donde hay vías de tren”, agrega Carranza, quien aseguró que en los últimos 8 años él y otros activistas han presentado al menos 15 denuncias ante la fiscalía local, pero agregó que ninguna ha prosperado."
There's a few main things to translate from that quote:
For one, it seems to suggest that other important dates like Semana Santa and Christmas can be dangerous also with a rise in dead animals around those dates also.
On top of that, the activist they interviewed has worked with this group for 8 years and has brought 15 suspected cases to prosecutors but none of them actually prosecuted anyone.
It also states here that, at least in Mexico City, doing this to any animal is technically against the law:
"En Ciudad de México, matar a un animal con fines de rituales está prohibido en el Artículo 25 Fracción XIII, el cual especifica: “Queda prohibido por cualquier motivo: (…) El uso de animales en la celebración de ritos y usos tradicionales que puedan afectar el bienestar animal”.
A esto se suma que matar a un animal es considerado un delito, que se establece en el Artículo 350 Ter del Código Penal de Ciudad de México."
Despite that, the article states that the selling of animals for sacrifice -- not just black cats -- happens in plain day in local markets as you can see here.
"En el mercado Sonora de Ciudad de México, la venta de animales para sacrificio se realiza a plena luz del día. Se puede conseguir un zorrillo en 10 mil pesos, una cabra por mil, un colibrí por menos de 100, una gallina negra desde 70 pesos o incluso especies con protección especial por las autoridades ambientales."
As a side point, it makes me wonder if this is a case of the authorities simply being too lazy to enforce the law or if they are bribed by anyone to allow this to happen in a place like Sonora market.
At any rate, let's move onto another country where this happens.
A Religious Group Guilty in Argentina?
Next, we have this article here that looks into a case of a religious group being accused of sacrificing cats and dogs around this time of year.
The religious group is known as la Asociación Raíces Afro Umbandistas de Misiones in the Argentine province of Misiones.
It was seemingly the case that people started accusing them of sacrificing cats and dogs but some of the leaders of said group came out and denied the accusations.
Here's a quote from a statement they released claiming that the accusations are false:
“Desconozco a qué tipo de religión pertenecen las personas que sacrifican gatos o perros. Nosotros queremos limpiar nuestro nombre y aclarar esto porque la sociedad siempre nos prejuzga. Por ahí algunas cosas se malinterpretan, pero nosotros faenamos animales que luego compartimos y se comen”, manifestó Gustavo Ruiz, de la Asociación Raíces Afro Umbandistas de Misiones."
However, they apparently do admit to sacrificing other animals like roosters, hens, goats or lambs as you can see from this quote here
"Según aclaró, en sus ritos faenan animales de corral como gallos, gallinas, cabras, chivos o corderos, que luego sirven a la mesa que comparten los practicantes de la religión."
Well, regarding their guilty or innocence, I couldn't find anything online suggesting that they have been prosecuted for sacrificing dogs or cats.
So, as of right now, they are not guilty of anything.
How to Protect Black & White Cats
There are some things you can do, I suppose.
We have some tips from this article here:
First, don't give them up for adoption.
Second, show them a person you trust in the community so they have information about them in case of theft or if you lose the cat somehow.
Third, don't let them out of the house.
Fourth, give the black and white cats in the street to the shelter.
And, though the article didn't mention it, perhaps you should mention something to any trusted authority in your city if you suspect weird shit is about to happen?
Like you can see here, sometimes agencies in Latin America get the job done. Maybe not always but it's better than nothing.
So just try to find out -- for whatever city you are in -- who you should turn to for reporting folks you believe are going to kill cats.
Anything to Add?
That's all I got.
Just a little detail about life down here.
If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.
And follow my Twitter here.
Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt