From Playboy cover girl to PETA Angel, Battlestar Galactica‘s Tricia Helfer strikes a pose along with her rescued cat, Mr. Nix, for PETA’s Be an Angel for Animals ad campaign.

While Helfer’s character on the SciFI Channel original series, the sexy Cylon babe Number Six, might be a deadly robot, in real life the caring actress is encouraging people to give a frak about their feline companions for her specific PSA (click image here at right for larger view).

Helfer’s clever poster tagline reads:

“If you have to be human, at least be humane.”

To bring awareness to the campaign, PETA is holding a contest through May 28, 2008 giving away the DVDs for Battlestar Galactica Seasons 1-3, along with the BSG movie Razor.

You can also check out the video interview PETA did with the actress where she talks about caring for companion animals, as well as how she’s against animal testing, the fur trade, and the seal hunt in her homeland of Canada. She also talks a little about her BSG character and what’s happening in this final season of the show.

Among the previous celebrities to pose for the cause were X-Men‘s Famke Janssen and Buffy/Angel star David Boreanaz.