Celebrity
After Iggy-Gate: Ellen DeGeneres to Rebuild Shabby Animal Shelters
By Bryan Ochalla

Dec 11, 2007

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres is looking to put the controversy surrounding former pet pup Iggy—whom she adopted with girlfriend Portia de Rossi in September and then gave to her hairdresser—behind her by working with a fellow “pet nut” to rebuild shabby animal shelters across the U.S.

According to the New York Post, the first project involving DeGeneres and former Meow Mix owner Richard Thompson already is underway in Monkey Run, Ark. "We're halfway done now," Thompson told the newspaper over the weekend. "We bulldozed the place, and we're building a new hay barn and a new barn.”

The shelter houses nearly 60 animals, the Post reported, including a zebra, an unknown number of Watusi cattle and 20 dogs—“some that are three-legged, blind and deaf,” Thompson said.

Thompson has been featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the past to talk about the campaign, which he is funding. “She can be the celebrity. She wanted to do something good. I'm proud of her, she believes in this," Thompson said of his new business partner.

Although DeGeneres has yet to publicly talk about her involvement in the project, she and her show will be taping its unveiling today for future airing on her popular daytime talk show.

DeGeneres made headlines a few months ago when she adopted Iggy from a pet adoption agency in Pasadena, Calif., and then gave the pup to her hairdresser when it didn't get along with her cats. The owners of the adoption agency eventually took the pet back, devastating the comedienne and her pup's newfound family.