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Iggy-Gate: Is There A Real Winner?
Portia signed the contract for her and Ellen....
The contract states that if the home situation doesn't work out, the responsible owner must return the pup to the adoption agency. Also, that all children in the home must be at least 14 years old. Little Ruby is 12. Statistics show that one half million adopted animals end up in shelters in their lifetime, hence the stringent policy.
So, contractually forbidden to redistribute Iggy the dog via her own discretion, Ellen did it anyway. Is she saying that in HER and Portia's situation the contract should not apply?
She may be right, when you look at the case realistically.
In fact, it’s become pretty clear to me that Iggy would have been happy in the home Ellen found for him. But, have a few pups been misappropriated by people who couldn't deal with it in the past? It’s at least imaginable. So, it’s understandable that this adoption agency would stick by the book and choose to follow their own guidelines, no exceptions. Less headaches. Fewer bad adoptions.
Let me ask you: If you know that you'll have to take a puppy back to its cage at the adoption center if "it doesn't work out", might that potential guilt force you to make as close to certain as possible that it WILL?
Nobody wins in this one. Iggy the dog was happy with Ellen's friends. Now he's been uprooted again. Ellen has ultimately stated that her signature isn't final. The adoption agency, Mutts and Moms, looks ridiculous for uprooting Iggy from what seems like a true winner of a home. They could have inspected the new home and ultimately agreed to the new arrangement, and maybe received some PSAs in return for giving Ellen an "out".
The only possible silver lining here is...
Is Iggy happy NOW?
I love how everyone is getting info out there about Puppy Mills and Rescue Centers for animals but I would like to ask you to also promote an amazing website called dogsindanger.com - it shows many dogs in shelters around the country that have ran out of time and are scheduled to be euthanized unless someone is interested in adopting them. Please do a segment about this site so we can save even more dogs from suffering. Thank you.
Ellen is a behaving like an entertainment terrorist! Here's Ellen..."I didn't bother to read the contract, I violated it, I gave away an animal that didn't belong to me, I made a mistake, BUT I think I should still get to do what I want. After all, I've already had a bad day boo-hoo, It's all about the dog...Boo-hoo" Marina Batkis has founded her not for profit organization. She's first on the list of shelters throughout California and is notified when they are about to kill dogs. She goes out and rescues the dogs, not just for her shelter, but other area shelters as well. The adoption fees she collects go directly to the care of the rescues. She takes no salary and after seeing the unending cruelty suffered by these poor creatures at the hand of man, she is understandably careful about who she places a dog with. Ellen didn't get her way and she was sad, now Mutts and Moms may be permanently out of business and Ellen and her out for blood fan-atics will have denied potentially hundreds of animals from the second chance that selfless people like Marina provide. Marinia's life and life's work have been seriously damaged if not destoyed all because she dared to say NO to a spoiled celebrity. Shame, shame shame. Bad comedianne. We are not impressed or amused.
How long did she actually have that dog before she gave up on it?
She should have contacted the rescue to say she was having problems. The rescue I work with has a behaviorist.
Should she have gone public with this NO. Her actions have put adoptions for this group on hold and probably made people pause a bit about adopting from rescues. That means they get dogs from petstores or backyard breeders AKA puppy mills.
OK, we need to resolve this issue. First, the rescue needs to be able to get back to the business of placing dogs (and any other animals) into good homes. They have rules, but each situation must be reviewed individually. Let's suggest that Ellen, Portia, the woman from the rescue, the hairdresser, and the new puppy owners get together, and make a moral decision as to the best placing for Iggy (in Iggy's best interest). If the children are deemed mature enough to handle a puppy, maybe the new family will agree to give them Iggy and adopt another dog. I believe Ellen should pay all costs for the rescue to "re-establish" itself. The rescue may need an entirely new "identity" in order to be productive. I think the rescue needs to rethink its rule on placing animals in households with children. Childen can make wonderful companions for a pet, and learn a lot about respect and responsibility from owning a pet at a young age. And, we don't want households who have young children to be forced into buying animals from other sources (like puppy mills). Please, please consider helping the situation come to an agreeable resolution for all. The new family should consider the emotions of two loving young people who became attached to Iggy.
It's a shame any way you look at this. I honestly think that Ellen didn't set out to put Mutts & Moms out of business. This goes to show how much power she has in the media. Ellen has so many fans, just the thought of her breaking down like that on TV would make any one of them want to get some sort of revenge - hence the death threats. Her celebrity is not to be taken lightly and she should know that by now.