A taxidermied dog famous for his fundraising efforts during the First World War has found his forever home.
Muggins, who was known to wander downtown Victoria streets solo and raised more than $21,000 (about $400,000 in today’s dollars) for the Red Cross overseas, is moving to the Trafalgar/Pro Patria Legion 292 at 411 Gorge Rd. East.
The fluffy white purebred Spitz was trained to walk downtown streets with two donation boxes tied to his back. Printed on his pack were the words: “I’m not chained to my job; I’m just doing my bit. Have you done yours?”
When the donation boxes grew heavy, he would return to his owner on Fort Street to have them emptied.
He became so well known that a fight nearly broke out when Muggins was picked up by animal control near the Empress hotel. The mayor was called and a police officer suggested the poundkeeper “use a little sense” and return the famous Red Cross collector dog, according to a 1919 story in the Daily Colonist.
His fundraising efforts were recognized with eight awards, including ones from the American and French Red Cross, and were immortalized in a silent film and a book by local author Grant Hayter-Menzies.
Despite being preserved by a taxidermist to continue his fundraising career after his death, Muggins disappeared in the 1940s or ’50s.
Paul Jenkins, co-ordinator of the B.C./Yukon history project at the Red Cross, kept Muggins’s story alive with blog posts chronicling the little dog’s extraordinary life, but he figured he was gone for good.
Then he received a call from a View Royal resident who believed she had Muggins in her shed.
“I was over there in a flash,” Jenkins told the Times Colonist in December. “I knew it was him right away.”
Jo-Ann Gallagher had seen a photo of Muggins in a news story and recognized the dog.
Muggins was restored to his former glory by a taxidermist in Mission and then took up residence at the Costume Museum at Government House. His time there comes to an end on Friday, when he will move to a display in the foyer of the legion on Gorge Road East.
The legion is hosting an event at 1 p.m. Friday for the public to meet Muggins and learn more about his life from Jenkins.
The legion plans to unveil an exhibit on Sept. 20 featuring Muggins and a silent film showing the little dog taking donations at the Empress. Muggins will be attached to a wall in a plexiglass case for protection and surrounded by First World War memorabilia.
“Muggins is a vet, when you think about it. He’s a hero, so that’s why he’s coming here,” said Alice Ross, membership chair and honours and awards chair at the legion.
Jenkins said the Red Cross was “thrilled” when the legion offered to display Muggins. The Red Cross had talked to several museums, including the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, about displaying Muggins, but had no luck securing a place where the dog would permanently be on display, he said.
Jenkins wanted him to be on display after being essentially “locked away in a cupboard for 60 years.”
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