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ITALY KILLS OVER 60′000 BLACK CATS EVERY YEAR
November 19, 2007
Yes you read that correctly, Italy kill over 60k cats yearly over superstition. Now an effort to disassociate these maligned felines from superstition and stop an estimated 60,000 annual cat killings, Italy is to hold its first national Black Cat Day.
Black cats symbolize different things to different cultures and countries, but in Italy, the black cat is all bad, all the time. Traffic is customary to stop abruptly while motorists wait for a black cat to finish crossing the road, and Italian men have been known to make the sign of the cross with one hand and cover their private parts with the other to ward off the evil of the supposed passage of a cat.
As part of an overhaul of feline image, a group of Italian animal protection organized a celebration to be held Saturday in major Italian cities including Milan and Rome. The demonstrations are designed to combat the prejudice of society and will include art exhibitions celebrating black cats, outside yourself - wear black cat gatherings and picnics, and ceremonies prices for people who have protected the black cats.