Members of the family Felidae, cats are carnivorous and are highly reputed for their hunting abilities. In fact, their finesse at capturing fish, birds, and rodents played a large part in their domestication and their early sacred status. Also, when cats became unpopular in Europe and their numbers decreased, the flourishing of rat populations that resulted helped lead to the spread of a great number of plagues and epidemics. By the seventeenth century, Europeans began to realize their mistake and cats became accepted household companions once again. Yet, even in modern times, vestiges of their former persecution remain, as is evidenced by the continued association of black cats with Halloween and bad luck.