Black cats are being shunned because they don't look good in selfies, a rescue shelter founder has said, as for the first time in the organisation's history all of its animals are black.

The cat rehoming centre is currently looking after 40 of the animals, none of which are ginger, tabby or tortoiseshell.

Christine Bayka says the cats are all black because they are being rejected by prospective owners because darker cats photograph badly and don't look good in selfies.

The 67-year-old set up cat rehoming centre The Moggery 21 years ago in Bishopston, Bristol, and says the situation is worse now than it has ever been.

She said: "It's worse now because black cats don't show up in selfies. ''Now everybody wants to take selfies and put them on Facebook. It's a very narcissistic use of social media.

"It happens all the time, I will go through all the questions and say 'are you flexible about colour?' Then they will say, 'yes, as long as it's not black.'

"It's an increasing problem, it wasn't like this 20 years ago. "Over 20 years of having difficulty rehoming black cats, it's definitely got harder because of selfies."