Black dogs and cats have a slower rate of being adopted, which is primarily down to them either looking boring or being surrounded by superstition.
Johannesburg, South Africa – Emma O’Brien is a portrait photographer who specialises in both human and animal photography. She is a champion for animal rescue and decided to use her talent to promote some underrated shelter animals.
Emma did some research and found that black shelter animals have the slowest rate of adoption and the highest rate of euthanasia. She asked rescue pet owners who had adopted black shelter animals if she could photograph their happy faces to try help boost their adoption rates in South Africa.
“Black dogs and cats get a raw deal when it comes to being unwanted. Ending up at a shelter is bad news for any animal, but black critters are the least likely to be adopted and if they are lucky enough to be chosen by an adoptee, they will have waited the longest.”
“I’ve done a bit of research on this and there seem to be four major reasons that black dogs and cats are last on the list for potential adoptees – firstly, they don’t photograph well (I think these images disprove that point) which is tragic if you want to take over Instagram with your new pet (repeatedly smacks forehead against wall), secondly, black dogs can look intimidating and aggressive, thirdly, black cats are superstitiously unlucky (or should that be stupid-stitiously) and lastly, they are a bit plain and boring to look at”
“So, because I’m a fan of championing the underdog (and cat), these images are my PR stunt to show that black dogs and cats are far from boring. I have of course used some creative license with the descriptions (aside from Casper who really did try to wear a feather boa) because, like a publicity-hungry Kardashian, I’ll do anything to get shelter pets the attention they deserve. I’ve even made a book which you can find here.”
After doing her research, Emma found a few tips and tricks for helping the black shelter animals stand out more. She hopes that by sharing the information she found, shelters will have a better success of getting their black shelter animals adopted.
“My Googling did reveal an interesting tip for shelters looking to encourage people to adopt their ‘boring’ black dogs and cats – place them with dogs and cats who are wearing alternative coloured outfits. Apparently, if there’s one black dog amongst a run full of brown dogs, he’s most likely to be selected. Make them stand out. Apparently, humans are a bit partial to clever marketing and fancy packaging.”
Emma has been selling photography sessions to parents of black shelter animals and has donated some of her fees to different animal charities. Most recently, she donated R2100 to Dogtown South Africa. Emma regularly donates her skills to shelters to help them get their precious rescues adopted.
Take a look at some of the black beauties Emma has captured; she even gave them snappy little captions to make your heart grow even more.
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