August is Clear the Shelters Month, and to assist extra shelter canine discover eternally properties, a beloved cartoonist has launched a brand new marketing campaign. Patrick McDonnell, creator of the well-known caricature MUTTS, can also be the founding father of the Undertake Love marketing campaign, a partnership that raises consciousness about pet adoption and fostering.1
In New York Metropolis specifically, the shelters are overcrowded. This yr, the Animal Care Facilities of NYC (ACC) reached full capability for the primary time in its historical past, which means it has needed to flip away homeless animals. The Undertake Love Marketing campaign options partnerships with the ACC, in addition to Muddy Paws Rescue and Isabel Klee, the human behind @SimonSits.
Maintain studying to be taught extra about this vital marketing campaign and see how one can assist!
All About MUTTS
MUTTS is a comic book strip by Patrick McDonnell that was first revealed again in 1994. It options two pets: a canine named Earl, who was impressed by McDonnell’s Jack Russell Terrier, and a cat named Mooch.
Within the comics, Earl and Mooch befriend all types of animals, together with canine and cats in want of adoption. Yearly, McDonnell even dedicates two weeks to “Shelter Tales,” aimed toward elevating consciousness about shelter animals and the pressing want for adoption. You may see considered one of them under:
The Undertake Love Marketing campaign
McDonnell’s Undertake Love marketing campaign has a number of totally different focuses. It’s fundraising for ACC’s Particular Remedy and Restoration (STAR) Fund, which helps fund medical and surgical take care of cats, canine, and rabbits. The marketing campaign can also be spotlighting particular person adoptable pets on the ACC, like these seen under, publishing new adoption-themed comedian strips and artwork, and sharing content material from their companions.
What’s Clear the Shelters Month?
Clear the Shelters is a nationwide adoption and donation program that takes place yearly in August. Since its inception in 2015, this system has facilitated an incredible 1,209,173 adoptions, with 20,593 to date this yr. Sponsored by NBC Common, Clear the Shelters works with an unlimited community of shelters and rescues all around the United States.
Animal shelters are sometimes overwhelmed, particularly throughout pet and kitten season (summer season), which might drive them to euthanize wholesome pets or just flip them away. The variety of animals in US shelters has been quickly rising since 2021, seemingly because of housing insecurity and rising pet care prices. Adoption charges simply haven’t stored up, resulting in shelter and rescue overcrowding.
How Can You Assist?
When you’re ready to foster or undertake a canine or cat, now is a superb time to contact your native shelters and rescues. Fostering could also be simpler than you suppose: many shelters and rescues present provides and canopy the price of medical care.
You can too donate on to the ACC, the STAR fund, or your native animal welfare organizations. Dropping off provides at your native shelter is at all times a good suggestion (however be sure you verify what they will use first). You can too volunteer to stroll or cuddle with canine, clear kennels, assist with adoption occasions, or take lovable adoption pictures.
Don’t overlook about social media! Share campaigns like this one together with your family and friends. You by no means know who is likely to be prepared to offer a furr-ever residence…
