Have you ever felt an increasing sense of despair while watching news bulletins about animal cruelty, or had sleepless nights worrying about those orphaned kittens that your local rescue group is trying to find homes for? Thankfully, amidst an ocean of distressing news, there’s a little life-raft in the form of Mutts comics. The strip, created by Patrick McDonnell, is an alternate universe where everyone is nice to animals, nobody breeds, buys or sells them, and every shelter pet gets lifted off the ground by eager human hands, and taken to a place where they will be deeply loved: home.
Mutts, which is syndicated to 700 newspapers in 20 countries, was described by Charles Schulz (the creator of Peanuts) as ‘one of the best comic strips of all time’. McDonnell tells homeless pets’ stories in a way that might inspire anyone who’s on the fence about adoption to jump off it, put on their shoes, and run to their nearest animal rescue to bring home a pet (or two!)
His ‘Shelter Stories’ series features heartwarming moments such as a rescued rabbit dangling a carrot at you to lure you to adopt him; a lovely deaf dog who says: ‘just do like I do… listen to your heart’; a fat-nosed kitten who has just been rescued and enters the shelter and asks, ‘I’m new here. Does anyone know a good lap around this town?’; a dog who waits and waits for an adopter to come, and then turns to his companion and asks anxiously, ‘Did you forget to mail the invitations?’ and yet another dog named Hope who features in a strip where he gazes at you patiently with deep, striking eyes, saying nothing, just drawing you in.
It’s possibly this quality that makes Mutts comics extraordinary – the beautiful, countless ways in which McDonnell portrays the concept of waiting, for that is all a shelter pet can do. He brings out the animals’ feisty, hilarious and hopeful natures, and makes them appear familiar, like they’re old friends you’ve known and loved forever, who are merely waiting for you to pick them up. While many of the characters in his strip are mutts (mixed-breeds), he also features pedigree animals that lost their first homes and are looking for new families, apart from a host of cats, rabbits and more.
Asked why he advocates so strongly for adoption through his comic strip, McDonnell (pictured here with his mixed-breed dog Earl) responds – “You can’t buy love, but you can find it at your local animal shelter. There are so many dogs, cats and other pets in shelters, all looking for the same thing: a forever home. Many different breeds, sizes and personalities just waiting. So if you’re looking for a new best friend, adopt, don’t shop”. Or as three Mutts characters say in the large placards they are holding up in a Sunday strip from 2007: “Adopt a dog today”. “And/or a kitty”. “Please”.