Brooklyn Belle Whips Up on Men in Order to Fund Her Rescue of Stray and Feral Cats

"Being a dom is hard work. I've pulled muscles whipping slaves. But I do it because I earn enough to help a lot of cats."
-- Goddess Haley

Seeing as how the world is chock-full of ailurophobes, cats and their protectors are accustomed to being beaten up on by all sorts of individuals and groups. In the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, however, there is an enterprising twenty-eight-year-old blonde who dishes out whippings in order to save cats.

Known in the trade as Goddess Haley, she spends her days working as a dominatrix at an S&M haunt in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. After work, she puts away her leather and lace and devotes her evenings and free time to plucking stray and feral cats from the mean streets of Brooklyn.

In an average year she rescues around ninety cats that she houses, feeds, procures veterinary assistance for, and then places in permanent homes. Currently, she and her husband Andy, a transplanted musician from Kansas City, are sharing their two-bedroom flat with about thirty felines. (See photo above.)

Since rescuing cats is not cheap, she is fortunate that her day job pays $180 an hour. For instance, she spends around $1,000 a month on food and other essentials while her annual veterinary bill runs to $5,000.

"Being a dom is hard work. I've pulled muscles whipping slaves," she admitted to the New York Post on October 27th. (See "Pussy-Whipped.") "But I do it because I earn enough to help a lot of cats."

She is in fact so devoted to her charges that she sometimes takes kittens to work with her. "Once I was even flogging a slave and realized it was feeding time and had to excuse myself for a few minutes but he probably liked the neglect," she related to the Post. "But, really, some of the slaves are very understanding. Some know what I do and they appreciate it."

This is one more poignant example of the transformative power of cats. "There are people who reshape the world by force or argument but the cat just lies there, dozing, and the world quietly reshapes itself to suit his comfort and convenience," Allen and Ivy Dodd once astutely observed.

That is a lesson that has not been lost on Goddess Haley. "It's kind of funny," she confessed to the Post. "I spend all day as the master of men, but when I get home I'm ruled by my cats."

Whether it is rushing home at night in order to make sure that dinner is served on time for the domestics or trudging out in the snow and cold long before sunup to feed and water a colony of homeless cats, all lovers of the species are pretty much in the same boat as Goddess Haley. Their vocations may not be quite as exotic as hers but they are no less familiar with the responsibilities and expenses that go hand in hand with their unconditional love.

Photo: Ben Parker of the New York Post.