Photos shared by the shelter show the 81-year-old Beatles icon and his wife Nancy Shevell holding their new pup. The Labelle Foundation thanked the couple “for opening up your home and supporting animal rescue.”
The caption says that they’ve renamed the dog “Jet.” Decades ago Paul owned another dog named Jet, who inspired the hit Wings song of the same name.
It’s always nice to see celebrities setting a good example by adopting from shelters, but it’s not surprising given Paul’s decades of animal rights activism. He has been a vegetarian since the 1970s, and has been an advocate for animal welfare and critic of slaughterhouses and the meat industry.
His late wife Linda was also an animal advocate throughout her life, and their daughter Stella McCartney is a prominent fashion designer who uses ethical and animal-free materials in her designs.
Over the years Paul has also owned many pets, some of whom will be familiar to fans of his music. Perhaps the most famous is Martha, the Old English Sheepdog McCartney owned during his Beatles days who was often photographed with the band, and inspired the “White Album” track “Martha My Dear.”
“She was a dear pet of mine,” McCartney once said, per the Liverpool Echo. “I remember John being amazed to see me being so loving to an animal. He said, ‘I’ve never seen you like that before.’ I’ve since thought, you know, he wouldn’t have.
“It’s only when you’re cuddling around with a dog that you’re in that mode, and she was a very cuddly dog.”
Paul also had a Labrador Retriever named Jet, who inspired the hit 1974 Wings song of the same name. Jet was reportedly the “runt of a litter” birthed by his dog, and was named for his jet-black fur.
“She proceeded to walk into the garage and have this litter. Seven little black puppies, perfect little black Labradors, and she’s not black, she’s tan,” McCartney said. “So we worked out it must have been a black Labrador.”