You think it's not easy being green....?

Oh Kermit, ya big whiner. You're a Hollywood Legend and main squeeze of Miss Piggy with record deals and your name rolling on movie credits. You're a Muppet, for heavens' sake! And you're complaining about it's not easy being green? Try being a BLACK dog, cat, or even rabbit in a shelter. Do you know what your chances are for survival, let alone the hope of finding your forever home pronto? Not much, my froggy friend.

Disadvantages ranging from being less visible in low-light shelter conditions to old fears and superstitions around the color black sadly translate into slower adoptions and higher euthanasia rates for black shelter animals. It is painful to consider the unfairness of any loving pet being homeless, let alone the idea of many receiving a death sentence because of coat color.

Any marketing professional will tell you that color is a powerful tool of perception. If you work in rescue, here are some ideas to improve the chances for adoption of the dark beauties.

• Take really good pictures. Darker animals are sometimes more difficult to photograph well. Make sure each animal is shown off at its best.
• For photographs and adoption events, add some color such as a bandanna or bright collar.
• Have events with pizzazz that draw attention to the glamourous side of black. As TulsaPetsMagazine.com recently reported,“Black Coat Gala,” “Hair O’ the Black Dog Happy Hour,” “Black CatWalk Night,” “Shelter-Black-is-Beautiful Pageant,” are some of the imaginative fundraising and adoption event themes shining a positive light on black shelter animals.

If you're thinking about adopting, keep in mind that a black coat does not limit the amount of love a companion animal has to give. Darker dogs even have the benefit of being more resistant to the UV spectrum and therefore less susceptible to skin malignancies. And here's a spectacular bit of luck for you and your black potential forever-pet: Currently Best Friends Animal Society is sponsoring the Back in Black National Adoption Event. To help the often-overlooked black companion animals find good homes, participating animal shelters and rescue groups are offering 50% off the adoption fee for all black pets from August 15-September 17, 2011. Here's your opportunity to try basic black at a bargain price—string of pearls optional.