A Rockaway Beach nonprofit called Itty Bitty City Kitties has a screening process for potential adopters. Not for allergies. Not for living space. Not for whether you've owned a pet before. For how you voted.
The shelter's director, Samantha Knox, runs a Facebook page that doubles as a political loyalty test. Posts include "MAGA? Nope. Conservative? Nope. I'm not political? Nice loophole. Still nope." In case the policy needed clarification, another post read: "NO. F--ING. MAGA."
The rescue's social media is littered with messaging that has nothing to do with animal welfare: "FREE PALESTINE," "This kitten account hates ICE," and "Kittens. Don't. Mourn. Nazis." These aren't stray comments from followers. These are official posts from the organization that decides which New Yorkers are worthy of taking home a rescue animal.
See the posts for yourself
PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk released a statement that deserves to be read in full: "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. They care if you love them and will give them a good home. We hope this policy, which is humancentric, is reconsidered and abolished."
When Ingrid Newkirk — the woman who has spent decades arguing that animals have more rights than most legal systems recognize — is telling you that your animal rescue has become too focused on human politics, something has collapsed. PETA calling a shelter "humancentric" is the organizational equivalent of getting a speeding ticket from a parked car.
The shelter operates as a nonprofit, which means it almost certainly benefits from tax-exempt status. It receives animals through a system funded and regulated by New York City. And its director is using the platform to screen out roughly half the country from adopting based on political affiliation — not animal care history, not home inspections, not veterinary references.
Knox hasn't addressed whether any cats have actually been denied to specific applicants, but the posted policy doesn't leave much room for interpretation. "Nice loophole. Still nope" covers the people who tried to stay neutral.
New York City has thousands of homeless cats. The shelter system is overcrowded. Rescues exist because the volume exceeds what public infrastructure can handle. Every adoption that doesn't happen is a cage that stays full and a spot that doesn't open.
Itty Bitty City Kitties would rather those cages stay full than let a conservative family take one home. Ingrid Newkirk noticed. The kittens probably did too.
