DeGeneres urges calm as fur flies

Last update: October 18, 2007 - 7:18 PM

LOS ANGELES - Ellen DeGeneres pleaded for calm about her canine dilemma, saying that the controversy has "gotten out of hand."

DeGeneres said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that 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 gave DeGeneres the dog, later took it back, saying the talk show host had violated the adoption agreement by not informing it that she was giving the dog away. DeGeneres' tearful account Tuesday on her show set off a firestorm of nasty e-mails and threats directed at the agency .

"I want nothing, nothing more than that dog returned to that family," DeGeneres said Thursday. "But you don't resort to violence. So anybody out there, please stop that."

The calls got so bad that Marina Batkis, co-owner of the rescue group, said she had to close her business and stay home Wednesday.

DeGeneres has acknowledged she erred but said her hairdresser's 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."

ASSOCIATED PRESS