Williamson County Animal Shelter Abandons "Black is Beautiful" Campaign

Just days before it was set to launch, the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter has decided to pull its week-long "Black is Beautiful" campaign, meant to spur adoption of the center's black-coated dogs and cats.

The promotion, as it turns out, had the misfortune of overlapping with the annual observation of Juneteenth, an entirely unrelated holiday meant to commemorate the day that Union soldiers made their landing in Galveston in 1865 and proclaimed to those enslaved in Texas that they had been freed. (Sidenote: an oft-mentioned fact is that this happened over two and half years after the Emancipation Proclamation)

President of the Austin NAACP chapter Nelson Linder told the Statesman that the ill-timed campaign was "not very well planned out or considered."

“In society, we live in small worlds, don’t talk to people, assume things and promote things that have no basis in reality,” said Linder. “I would encourage them to do more outreach on those animals. Talk to people, get some feedback so these things don’t happen.”

The shelter has about two dozen black cats and dogs that can't seem to find permanent homes—evidently dark-coated animals aren't very popular among potential pet owners.

Shelter director Cheryl Schneider told the Statesman that this might be "out of superstition or fear that they might be a more aggressive."

The list of animals currently available at Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter can be viewed here.