So... Get this. I was watching "Office Space" one evening, and went to bed with George Orwell's "Animal Farm" under my pillow. The characters started to meld together, and before I knew it, Milton Waddams was starting to grow a snout, bleeting "f-f-f-four legs good... t-t-t-two legs baaaad..."
The subliminal messages of Dilbert comics and Far Side were also playing with my head, with Scott Adams and Gary Larson in a jello flinging competition on who's comic was a more cynical view of the world.
... and that's how
"Animal Inc." was created. It's like the concoction of the edgy, office satire blended together with humanoid-animals that Dr. Moreau made - because animals actually
do want to be enslaved in the capitalist corporate world. Really.