By: Dave Astor The "Mutts" comic usually has a timeless quality, with no reference to current events. But cartoonist Patrick McDonnell is making an exception this week.
In a poignant, wordless sequence that began Monday and ends Saturday, McDonnell showed a dog named Katrina trapped on a roof in flooded New Orleans. First she looks over the watery landscape, then she howls, then she slumps on the roof in despair. Rescuers finally arrive, and Friday's strip shows Katrina in a shelter. Saturday, the dog learns she has a home again, although the strip is ambivalent whether it will be with her old family or a new one.
McDonnell, whose 10-year-old comic appears in nearly 600 newspapers via King Features Syndicate, said he places "Mutts" a little bit in the real world when he does his twice-yearly "Shelter Stories" sequences promoting pet adoption. But Hurricane Katrina was such a momentous event that McDonnell decided to mention it by name in this week's strips.
"After Katrina, we learned so much about humans and pets and the special bonds between them," said McDonnell in an E&P phone interview Friday. "Many people didn't want to leave their homes because of their pets."
McDonnell is on the board of directors of the Humane Society of the United States, which strongly criticized the policy of people not being allowed to take pets with them when rescued.
The HSUS rescued thousands of Gulf Coast animals after the hurricane and placed them in shelters around the country. "They did a wonderful job," said McDonnell, while adding that some animals unfortunately died despite the best efforts of the HSUS.
Many of the surviving pets have been reunited with their owners and many others will need new homes -- which is why Saturday's strip is ambivalent about Katrina the dog's final destination.
This is not McDonnell's first Katrina-related effort. Several weeks ago, the cartoonist auctioned a "Mutts" Sunday strip to raise money for hurricane relief. It was purchased for $10,600 on eBay (E&P Online, Sept. 30). The cartoonist rarely offers his originals for public sale, but said he might do it again for charitable purposes if the situation is right.
McDonnell -- who noted that it's currently National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week (Nov. 6-12) -- always gets a lot of reader response to his "Shelter Stories" sequences. "What really makes my day is when someone says the strips encouraged them to adopt a cat or dog," said McDonnell, whose "Mutts" comic stars a cat and dog and who has a real-life cat and dog himself.
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