Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Degeneres Delimma

I was surprised to see Ellen Degeneres go all sobby-boo-hoo on her talk show recently. Apparently, she claims she made a mistake when, after adopting a dog from a shelter who turned out to be too rambunctious for her cats, she gave the dog named Iggy to her hairdresser’s children. Turns out that the shelter from which she adopted Iggy had a policy of no re-adoptions and does not let their dogs be taken into households that have kids. It was all in writing. So, during their follow-up and learning Ellen had given Iggy to someone else, they took him back.

She messed up. At least she admitted it wholeheartedly.

Granted, we don’t know all the details of the story.

Perhaps the owner of the shelter did find that Iggy's new home was unacceptable or unsafe.

Maybe Ellen knew about the policy but decided to thwart it anyway.

There’s a lot we don’t know, but it seems to me that Ellen reacted inappropriately by using her talk show to bring so much attention to this predicament. We know she’s very passionate about animals, all well and good. Perhaps she let that passion get the best of her before thinking it through.

Now the kids are involved, the owner of the animal shelter is being bombarded, and the blogs are going crazy over this event. (Shame on the bloggers!)

Frankly, I think Michael Vick ought to be a guest on her program, console her and give her a big hug. He can certainly relate to the subject dogs being taken away from their owners.

Labels: , ,

5 Comments:

At 4:50 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is likely that the "no homes with children" proviso was in the contract because the dogs are not examined or screened to make sure that they will react appropriately to little hands and feet. So, the question is not if the environment was safe for the pooch, but is it safe for the kids.

I've got 2 dogs and 3 cats and I love them all. I have always had and cared for pets. But, when it comes right down to it...People First. Especially the little ones.

 
At 2:22 PM , Blogger Lorraine said...

I watched the clip on YouTube...it seems to me that the only reason Ellen broke down on the show was because she was so upset over what happened that she couldn't pretend to be funny until she got it off her chest. Right or wrong, I can understand that...it wasn't like her original intent was to use her show as a bully pulpit against the agency.

Interesting notes, because I've spent too much time now looking into this but a)the agency in question has temporarily suspended their website because they were getting so much email over this and 2) the issue of whether or not owners should do what Ellen did is a subject of some controversy in the rescue community.

 
At 2:52 PM , Blogger Br. Jonathan said...

Very well said, Bro.
And I like your dogs and cats too. Max is great.

'Raine: I just had to write a Pugbus article on this.

 
At 7:23 PM , Blogger Iwanski said...

Ellen is a good kid.

 
At 6:12 PM , Blogger Kimberly Ann said...

I have no problem with celebrities using their celebrity as a platform for their own agendas, whatever those might be. Free speech I'm fine with so long as I'm free to turn off the channel if I don't like the message.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home