A New York City kitten rescue organization has barred MAGA supporters from adopting cats.
Itty Bitty City Kitties said yesterday that “conservative” voters would not be welcome at its Rockaway Beach location.
“If your politics involve racism, bigotry, dehumanizing immigrants, or cheering on cruelty toward vulnerable people, please kindly f**k right off,” the rescue wrote in an Instagram post.
Samantha Knox, director of Itty Bitty City Kitties, told Fox News that the organization weighs applicants’ “public conduct and demonstrated values” during the adoption process.
Knox said a history of “celebrating harm or abuse, be it toward people or animals” would be considered a red flag. The rescue, she added, would never place a vulnerable animal with anyone it believed posed a risk to the animal’s welfare.
The strict adoption policy quickly drew backlash, including criticism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.
PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk told Fox News: “Homeless animals don’t care which side of abortion you are on or whether you believe in global warming or support Palestine or Israel or if you don’t vote at all, ever.”
“We hope this policy, which is human-centric, is reconsidered and abolished,” Newkirk added.
The New York-based rescue Itty Bitty City Kitties says MAGA supporters will no longer be allowed to adopt cats through the agency. Director Samantha Knox said the nonprofit has the right to reject applicants who support “harm or abuse, be it toward people or animals.”
Knox said the agency received a large number of hateful messages after publishing the post. She said the response underscored the type of screening the rescue conducts before approving a cat adoption.
Itty Bitty City Kitties describes itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on caring for orphaned and neonatal kittens.
The organization is also listed among New York state’s registered pet rescues.
“As an animal welfare rescue, our primary responsibility is ensuring the animals in our care go to safe, compassionate homes,” Knox told Fox News.
She defended the rescue’s screening process, saying that a history of “celebrating cruelty” could affect whether an applicant was considered suitable to care for an animal.
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Knox said each application would be assessed according to the applicant’s “conduct, ethical alignment and animal safety.”
PETA criticized the policy, arguing that cat adoptions should be based on a person’s behavior rather than political affiliation.
Knox told the outlet that “MAGA is a political movement and ideology, not a recognized political party.”
She said the rescue does not screen out or reject applicants solely because of their registered political-party affiliation.
However, her Instagram post also stated that conservatives would not be permitted to adopt cats from Itty Bitty City Kitties.
The policy also left questions about how the rescue would handle prospective adopters who describe themselves as “not political.”
‘Nice loophole,’ Knox wrote. ‘Still nope.’
‘These kittens are looking for homes with a tote bag collection, oat milk, an aggressively progressive group chat, a compost bin, NPR playing somewhere in the background, and someone who has rage-donated to mutual aid at least once,’ the post continued.
‘We reserve the right to reject any application where an applicant’s expressed values, public statements or actions demonstrate a failure to meet our safety and welfare standards,’ she told Fox News.
The agency has often shared screenshots of graphic and hurtful messages that they have received for their political views.
Knox told Fox that the messages illustrate the ‘kind of conduct the rescue considers relevant when evaluating prospective homes.’
PETA disregarded the ideology.
‘Political affiliation is not a reliable measure of whether someone will be a good guardian,” the organization told Fox News Digital.