Ellen DeGeneres loves rescue pets, stew and stamps; Portia de Rossi speaks out for feral cats

If there weren't already reason enough to love Ellen DeGeneres and her hilarious wife Portia de Rossi, add this to the list: The couple is using their high-profile status to help homeless dogs and cats.

DeGeneres is working to promote pet adoption through the U.S. Postal Service's forthcoming "Stamps to the Rescue" campaign, through which consumers can purchase a set of stamps with images of dogs and cats rescued from shelters. In connection with the release of the new stamp collection, the pet-food company of which DeGeneres is part owner, Halo Purely for Pets, has announced that it will donate a million servings of its "Spot's Stew" food to needy pets in animal shelters across the country.

DeGeneres will join Postmaster General John E. Potter at an dedication ceremony for the "Stamps to the Rescue" campaign at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Hollywood on April 30, the day the stamps officially go on sale. (In the meantime, they can be preordered online.)

Meanwhile, De Rossi has partnered with feral-cat advocacy group Alley Cat Allies to promote the organization and its efforts to save adult feral cats' lives and reduce the number of kittens they produce through the trap-neuter-return program. TNR, as the approach is often referred to, "is the only way to help contain the [feral cat] populations and save their lives," De Rossi said.

TNR is widely viewed by feral-cat caregivers as the most effective way of managing feral colonies in the short-term while helping to reduce their numbers in the long term. But here in Southern California, the approach came under fire earlier this year when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge sided with a group of bird fanciers and wildlife advocates who argued that TNR violated state environmental laws and failed to protect the birds that are killed by feral cats.

The judge's ruling -- which bars local groups that practice TNR from receiving city-sponsored vouchers for free sterilization surgeries for feral cats, prevents city shelters from releasing feral cats in their care to such groups and keeps the city from referring those who complain about feral-cat colonies to TNR groups, among other things -- was viewed as a travesty by many in L.A.'s animal-rescue community. 

DeGeneres and De Rossi are longtime animal lovers; the pair even decided to make a donation to the Best Friends Animal Society in lieu of gifts to their friends and family in 2008, and DeGeneres often devotes time on her popular talk show to discussing animal-related topics. But the couple was also involved in a much-publicized controversy a few years back when they gave a terrier mix named Iggy, whom they'd adopted from an L.A.-area rescue group, to the family of DeGeneres' hairstylist without the rescue group's prior consent.

The group, Mutts & Moms, responded by removing Iggy from the hairstylist's home, noting that its adoption contract contained a clause that prevented adopters from re-homing animals obtained from the group without its permission. An attorney for Mutts & Moms claimed that the group had offered the hairstylist's family the chance to formally apply to adopt Iggy, but that they had refused to do so. Mutts & Moms quickly placed Iggy in a new adoptive home. DeGeneres and De Rossi currently have five pets -- two dogs and three cats -- including a mixed-breed dog rescued from an abusive owner.

DeGeneres was named one of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' People of the Year, along with "Project Runway's" Tim Gunn, in 2009. Earlier in the year, she and De Rossi received the Humane Society of the United States' Wyler Award for their work on behalf of California's Proposition 2 ballot initiative, which imposed more humane standards for the treatment of farmed animals in the state.

Learn more about DeGeneres and De Rossi's recent work on behalf of homeless animals at The Times' celebrity news blog, Ministry of Gossip.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: De Rossi, left, and DeGeneres. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Deborah]

I know she cares for animals, but I cannot forget the time she had an elephant from Have Trunk Will Travel on her show. She tossed fruit at the elephant and it was an absolute disgrace. I hope she now realizes how wrong that was. Transporting an elephant in 100 degree wheather just so you can toss fruit at it is shameful. Any expert will tell you stress is the number one killer when transporting animals. If she wanted to show animals she should have traveled to the Los Angeles Zoo with a remote camera.

[L.A. Voter]

The issue of Ellen's breach of contract with Mutts and Moms is not simply that she re-homed a dog without the group's "prior consent." That is dishonestly minimizing what she did.

When a rescuer takes in a dog or cat (or any other companion animal) they are promising that animal that no matter how he or she may have been mistreated up to this point, that rescuer will do his or her absolute best to make sure it never happens again. When you adopt an animal from a rescue you aren't buying a product you can just give away of it doesn't fit. You sign a contract that says you will take care of that animal for the rest of his or her life. THAT is the basis on which a qualified rescuer trusts you with an animal they have taken responsibility for. Mutts and Moms did their best in a situation where Ellen broke her contract by trying to work with the hairdresser's family. But the hairdresser didn't respect them enough to work with them. She clearly felt she "owned" the dog and she didn't need to respect the terms set forth entirely for the protection of the dog. Mutts and Moms did what they needed to to live up to their obligation -- their promise -- to that dog. And Ellen retaliated by deliberately paiting huge bullseye on them on national television.

Therefore, I don't want to hear one word out of Ellen or Portia de Rossi until they make a public and formal apology for their deliberate breach of their signed contract with Mutts and Moms and Ellen's subsequent brutal use of her show and her celebrity to try to intimidate a small private rescue that had trusted her with one of their dogs. She should also apologize for the threats those rescuers received from Ellen's deranged fans -- which was not only entirely foreseeable, but I still wonder if that was her actual intent. Clearly she felt that she had the right to use her show as a bully pulpit, maybe she intended to use her fans as an army of intimidation against these rescuers. Whether she did it deliberately or not, she caused a lot of damage simply out of hubris -- her belief that she should have whatever she wanted, regardless of what she and de Rossi had contractually agreed to. She used her celebrity to threaten and intimidate a rescue group and she has NEVER made equally public amends.

I'm not a member of Mutts and Moms, nor do I know anyone in the group, but I do work in rescue and what Ellen did was unbelievably vicious and damaging to people who really do spend their entire lives saving animals, as opposed to the part-time PR photo op Ellen uses rescue for. It's completely unforgivable.

It was a disgusting display of celebrity narcissism run amuck and it forever altered my view of Ellen DeGeneres. You do something that egregious and dangerous and never apologize and what you're telling the world is that you are a person with no conscience. You don't get to just act like nothing happened and you are somehow God's gift to animals in need. Now she wants to make money selling pet food (and makeup and whatever else she's huckstering these days). Well until she apologizes for what she did I won't buy her pet food and I will continue to not watch her ego-trip of a show. She is a remorseless narcissist.

[FeralFacts]

TNR is ineffective, dangerous for native wildlife, a risk for public health, and an infringement on property rights, as well as inhumane for domestic companion animals.

TNR means collateral damage.

http://tnrrealitycheck.com/studies.asp

[Redbud]

TNR is not a humane way to deal with feral cats. Trap and remove the cats and remove the artificial food source and the problem is resolved. TNR is based on perpetual colony maintenance; these cats never go away. Ellen should take the hint from Los Angles and wait to see what the environmental review reveals.......I think she will be surprised. Then maybe she can contribute to a worthy cause and not throw her money away on useless projects.

[C.J.]

LA Voter said it all. I used to love Ellen but the Iggy fiasco opened my eyes to her. To adopt a puppy and then complain about "puppy energy" is bad enough (what the heck else would a thinking person expect?) but then to make life a living hell for a group that does more for dogs than Ellen ever dreamed of doing is shameful, and Ellen has never apologized or admitted she was wrong. At least the facts came out that Ellen is a serial dog adopter who treats them like shoes she can toss out when she's tired of them.

Maybe if she donates her food to Mutts and Moms and formally apologizes I'll watch her show again. As it is the hypocrisy makes me ill.

[Alice]

There is nothing at all wrong with TNR as something one can do for the short haul as a private citizen. If the city wants to do something else then let them. But these people are often the ONLY ONES who do ANYTHING about the problem. Its a solution that isnt perfect but that does help the problem. You whiny people make me ill when you complain that what someone does isnt the perfect solution. Of course its not perfect! But until I see you out there with a solution stop your whining.

I am also immensely tired of rescue organizations who think that after they have adopted out an animal they have the right to have any say in the animals life. That would be like an adoption agency coming in and forcing a parent to raise the child exactly how they would like them raised. The dog was rehomed intelligently to a suitable home that had love, money, and attention for the dog. Whiny commenters here are idealists who dont have any clue of the real world of animal rescue. Little dogs in particular are exploited by these rescue groups for increased adoption fees. I want to know what fee they paid because I have seen plenty of groups that have 500+ fees which is the same as selling a dog.

I have worked in rescue organizations for different animals all my life and I have seen horses adopted out for cheaper fees!