News Release

Popular Demand Puts Pooch Café Back in Business in Hong Kong

Kansas City, MO  (01/05/2006)  Welcome back to Pooch Café!

This headline greeted readers of the South China Morning Post the day they restored the comic about a talking dog with cunning plans to rid the world of cats and a penchant for kibble.

In mid-November, Hong Kong’s leading English newspaper had initially dropped Pooch Café to make room for two new Sudoku grids, but a backlash by readers caused editors to reconsider. A short time later the comic strip was back in the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.

“Since we dropped the Pooch Café comic strip from our Diversions page several weeks ago, the outpouring of anguish in our postbag has been heartrending,” stated the story on the front page of the SCMP’s City section.

Pooch Café had appeared in the daily SCMP for about five years, and the Sunday version was picked up for the Sunday Young Post in 2002. Kristin Norell, managing director, Asia for Atlantic Syndication (Universal Press Syndicate’s international sales division), said she warned the editors that readers would protest the loss of Pooch Café—and they did.

Among the cries of anguish written and posted by South China Morning Post readers:

“Bring back the dogs. Let one of the others go.”

“It is refreshing to find out that there are so many Pooch Cafe fans in Hong Kong. My young teenage daughter and I have been sharing funny clips of Pooch Cafe for the past few years…Pooch has certainly helped with our mother-daughter bonding over the years. It would be such a shame to lose this wonderful family comic strip.”

“What happened to Pooch Cafe? Last time we saw him, he was all set for surgery to remove an ingested food bowl, and now he's disappeared! I'm worried he didn't survive the surgery.”

Fortunately for these readers and many others, main dog Poncho not only survived his surgery, but also rejoined the SCMP’s comic’s page only a few weeks after it was removed. “Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet” was moved to the technology pages to make way for Poncho and his mates.

For almost 100 years, The South China Morning Post has been the premier English-language newspaper of Hong Kong and the surrounding region, with a daily circulation of 107,000. The online edition of the paper, scmp.com, has over 700,000 registered users and receives 25 million page views a month. With 100 years of history, the South China Morning Post is widely read by affluent and well-educated decision makers, managers and executives in Hong Kong. According to the AC Nielsen 2005 Media Index Report, it has 96% of the English language newspaper readership in Hong Kong.

Pooch Café, created by Paul Gilligan, is the story of a cheese-loving, squirrel-fearing, kibble-craving, break-dancing mutt named Poncho. Poncho and his dog pals gather at a local watering hole called Pooch Café, where they compare notes on issues such as tail chasing, cat surveillance and proper mailman harassment. Poncho’s home life revolves around his adjustment to his master’s new wife and the horde of cats she brought with her.

In addition to appearing in the South China Morning Post, Pooch Café runs daily in more than 200 newspapers and publications around the world, including the comics page of msnbc.com. Pooch Cafe is distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.

Creator(s): Paul Gilligan

Contact(s): Kathie Kerr

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