The move was announced last week by the city council of Terrassa, a city of nearly 230,000 people in the vicinity of Barcelona.

Many animal shelters already have their own policies against the adoption of black cats in October, due to concerns that adoptees are not serious about caring for them long-term.

Animal welfare charities say black cats are often adopted in the run-up to Halloween for aesthetic purposes and later abandoned.

However, Terrassa’s deputy mayor Noel Duque said the local ban was motivated by reports of people with “a special interest in adopting black cats to use them for ritual purposes”.

Mr Duque told Spanish broadcaster RTVE’s Mañaneros 360 programme: “If you want to adopt a black cat in Terrassa, it will have to be after Halloween, and we will have to believe that you are going to take care of it.”

The one-off ban will run until 1 November and could be repeated next year if deemed successful at preventing “any macabre practices”, he said.