Ian Somerhalder Talks About His...Kids?!

Who knew Ian Somerhalder had a gaggle of little ones running around at home? But he does. However, he's not sure how many he actually has...

We're talking about his cats, people!

"I've got a number of them," Somerhalder told me earlier today, "and sometimes that number fluctuates because there will be a rescue that's fostered a little bit. There's a lot of fur."

Somerhalder is definitely one of the animal kingdom's best friends. So much so, I can exclusively tell you, the Humane Society of the United States will honor him with the Wyler Award at their upcoming Genesis Awards gala on March 24 at the Beverly Hilton hotel. (Ellen DeGeneres and Sir Paul McCartney are past recipients.)

But Somerhalder is no crazy cat person taking in every stray feline that comes his way. "Ideally, I need to get them to a clinic first," Somerhalder said. "There's an amazing clinic here in Atlanta, Pets Are People Too. These guys take care of all my animals. We get [strays] there and get them healthy because I don't want to take them back to my pride and get my kids sick."

The Humane Society announced that Somerhalder is being honored for his work on shark finning, the Canadian seal hunt, fur in fashion and endangered species. "Ian is the epitome of a new kind of advocate who leverages his fame and an array of media platforms to draw public attention to animal protection concerns and other issues that he cares deeply about," Beverly Kaskey, senior director of HSUS's Hollywood Outreach and executive producer of the annual Genesis Awards, said in a statement.

With his recent Entertainment Weekly cover and PETA's appetite to get celebrities to take their clothes off, we're sure that animal rights group will be after Somerhalder, too—if they're not already.

Somerhalder laughed, "Being naked is good."

No complaints here ;)