Ellen DeGeneres says she's done talking about her canine dilemma and is
pleading for calm, saying on her show that the controversy surrounding an
adopted dog has "gotten out of hand."
During a Wednesday taping of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," to be aired
Thursday, DeGeneres told viewers she wouldn't speak again until the dog, Iggy,
is returned to DeGeneres' hairdresser and the woman's young daughters.
The dispute erupted last month when DeGeneres and her partner adopted Iggy, a
black Brussels Griffon mix terrier. When Iggy wasn't able to get along with
DeGeneres' cats, the couple gave the dog to DeGeneres' hairdresser.
Mutts and Moms, the nonprofit dog-rescue organization that originally gave
DeGeneres the dog, later took it back, saying the talk show host had violated
the adoption agreement by not informing them that she was giving the dog away.
That set off a firestorm of nasty e-mails and threats directed at the agency
after DeGeneres shared the blow by blow with viewers on her show this week.
"Let me just say this, it's gotten out of hand," DeGeneres said on the
segment to air Thursday. "I want nothing, nothing more than that dog returned to
that family. But you don't resort to violence. So anybody out there, please stop
that. Please don't threaten or do whatever."
The angry calls got so bad that Marina Batkis, co-owner of the dog rescue
organization, said she had to close her business and stay home Wednesday, a day
after DeGeneres broadcast a tearful, televised plea for the dog to be returned
to her hairdresser and the woman's daughters.
"My life is being threatened. This is horrible," a tearful Batkis said
outside her home.
DeGeneres has acknowledged she erred but said her hairdresser and her family
shouldn't be punished. Batkis has refused to back down.
"If Ellen wants to place dogs and decide what's a good home, then she should
start her own rescue group," she told "Inside Edition." "But I'm the one doing
this and I know what I'm doing."
DeGeneres said several agencies had offered to provide the family another
dog, even one that looked like Iggy.
"And unfortunately, Ruby, the little girl, doesn't want another dog, she
wants Iggy," said DeGeneres on the show to air Thursday. "It's not a toy that's
broken that you can replace. It's a dog."
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