Shane and Sia Barbi, aka "The Barbi Twins," with their ten-years-old chihuahua Butch who is partially blind. They fostered Butch for the Kitty Liberation Front while awaiting a permanent home for him.

The aging skin-trade models are the founders of the Kitty Liberation Front, and very active in animal welfare politics including the battles again vivisection, pit fighting, tethering or caging, declawing or cropping ears and tails, puppy mills, and a ban on animals kept in circuses and zoos.

Wish I could praise them for their devotion, but fact is, the choices in this world right now are to let animals like the Bengal tiger become extinct, or continue sustainable breeding programs in zoos. They've unfortunately swallowed some swill from the crazier fringies of animal rights movements who believe death and extinction is preferable to exploitation. But good for them for fostering Butchy.