Some Observations about “Spay Day”

It’s February again, and HSUS yesterday held another “Spay Day” event. The event involves spay/neuter promotion and a user-submitted photo contest, with visitors able to vote on which photo they think is the best.

Many of them are quite cute. But HSUS’s Spay Day ploy is not.

Quick background: Spay Day was started by the Doris Day Animal League back in the 1990s, but HSUS took it over after it merged with DDAL in 2006.

Here’s how it works this year (under the banner “World Spay Day”): Contestants submit a cute picture of your pet, give their contact info to HSUS (probably to be counted as a “constituent” of HSUS), and then encourage their friends and family and others to “vote” for their photo. 

But voting isn’t free, no siree. Votes cost $1 each, with a minimum purchase of 5 votes. Now, to HSUS’s credit, the money gets passed through to an organization designated by the photo contestant:

After the Contest ends, The HSUS/HSI will disburse the funds in the form of grants to the organizations designated by the contestants—with 100% of your donation going directly to the organization(s) designated by the contestant(s) whose pet photo(s) you voted for.

So is HSUS giving any of its own money? Hard to say. But because it is taking custody of the money from the photo contest voters, its tax return should show HSUS making the grant to the local shelters (even though HSUS is really just a pass-through). In effect, that would boost how much HSUS is giving to local shelters, which already is just 1 percent of its budget.

And there’s another catch. HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle recently claimed that there are “more than 100,000 animals of all kinds HSUS staff provide direct care to every year.” That’s a figure for 2010, in which HSUS counted 68,000 spay/neuter surgeries that occurred during Spay Day.

However, here’s what it says on HSUS’s 2010 tax return, filed under penalty of perjury:

The HSUS and its affiliate Humane Society International launched an online pet photo contest. Entrants in the contest could fundraise on behalf of nearly 300 eligible spay day event organizers. Overall, more than 500 local organization, veterinary clinics, and individuals hosted Spay Day events in 49 states, the District of Columbia, four US territories, and 39 other countries, resulting in more than 68,000 spay/neuter surgeries worldwide.

So HSUS staff didn’t truly provide the direct care itself—it just hosted an event which “result[ed] in” spay/neuter surgeries—the actual work basically being done by other people. HSUS essentially ran a PR campaign and a photo contest. It's not that promoting spay/neuter is bad—but the way HSUS phrases it, you’d think Wayne Pacelle himself was out sterilizing pets.

You may recall that we obtained a Spay Day Memorandum of Understanding for last year’s event. The contract, between HSUS and a local group, shows what a great PR deal this is for HSUS. In exchange for (in this case) $2,000, the group receiving the money had to provide two glowing testimonials and two photographs for HSUS’s use.

Here’s our advice: Admire the cute pics that people submit, but bypass the big charade and just donate to your local shelter directly. If they have a spay/neuter subsidy fund, perfect.

Help Stop HSUS’s Assault

We knew our ad during Sunday’s Academy Awards would ruffle some feathers, but HSUS replied yesterday with an especially vicious attack. Though our ad ran in only the D.C. area, HSUS put out a national alert that it was launching a new fundraising campaign—to stop our so-called “campaign for cruelty.”

So let’s get this straight: Our ad asked people who want to help shelter pets to donate to their local pet shelter. And, somehow, that’s a “campaign for cruelty”? If that doesn’t sum up how paranoid and demagogic HSUS is, we don’t know what does.

The best reaction we’ve seen so far comes from the KC Dog Blog:

So, it seems more than a little odd to me, that in this scenario, "Dr. Evil" is promoting giving to local, needy animal shelters. And the supposed "good guy' here, the "Humane" organization, is promoting giving money to themselves. Ouch.

That pretty much sums it up. As he notes, nowhere in HSUS’s fevered response does it mention supporting local shelters!

Wethinks HSUS doth protest too much—and in fact, it’s a bit funny that HSUS unwittingly revealed its true motive: factory fundraising. Unfortunately, we’re outgunned here. Our annual budget is less than what HSUS puts into its pension plan. We haven’t mastered the art of deception and inflammatory Orwellian rhetoric like its CEO Wayne Pacelle, and we don’t have untold millions to pump into misleading marketing.

So we need your help. Here’s what you can do:

1. Make a donation to your local pet shelter of supplies or money.

2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper asking readers to give locally, and telling them how HSUS gives only 1 percent of its money to local shelters. (If you want more talking points, read this.)

3. If you run a blog, write about how inhumane HSUS is to shelter advocates.

4. Spread the word to your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

We’re not intimidated by HSUS’s smear tactics and attempts to stifle the truth. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Together, we can expose HSUS and help groups that truly walk the walk.

PRESS RELEASE: Academy Awards “Consumer Alert” Ad

Television Ad Airs During Academy Awards Targeting Humane Society of the United States' Deceptive Fundraising Practices
Research from HumaneWatch.org Exposes HSUS’s Misleading National Ad Campaign

Washington, D.C. – HumaneWatch.org, a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), aired a consumer alert during the 84th Annual Academy Awards, warning Americans about the deceptive fundraising practices of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The ad highlights HSUS’s duplicitous fundraising tactics—the vast majority of its fundraising commercials feature dogs and cats, yet only one percent of the money HSUS raises from the public goes to local, hands-on pet shelters. The ad also encourages Americans to give directly to their local pet shelters to make the greatest impact in their community.

A recent analysis of HSUS’s television ads by HumaneWatch.org determined that the group’s television fundraising appeals perpetuate the misperception that HSUS is an organization that primarily supports pet shelters. Specifically, CCF examined 28 separate HSUS television appeals that ran from January 2009 through September 2011, identified by the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), and discovered that more than 85 percent of the animals shown in the ads were dogs and cats despite very little of HSUS's budget going to pet shelters.

“HSUS uses emotionally manipulative ads to hook Americans who love pets, whether famous – like The Artist’s Uggie – or non-famous, yet it gives just one penny of every dollar it raises to local pet shelters,” said CCF Senior Research Analyst J. Justin Wilson. “HumaneWatch.org wants to ensure that donations go to support the cause donors intend. If they want their contributions to aid cats and dogs in their community they should give directly to local pet shelters instead of inadvertently bankrolling HSUS’s aggressive animal rights agenda.”

HSUS asserts that its ads contain a disclaimer that local humane societies are independent from HSUS. However, based on CMAG’s data on ads that aired between 2009 and 2011, more than 99 percent of HSUS ads did not contain a disclaimer. The one percent that did contain a disclaimer only appeared—in fine print—for a few seconds on a few dozen individual ad spots.

“HSUS knows full well that the American public experiences ‘humane society’ brand confusion, yet they continue to mislead the public with multi-million dollar ad campaigns,” remarked Wilson. "They seem to want to have it both ways. On one hand, they say 'we never said we funded animal shelters' and on the other they continue to rely on cats and dogs—oftentimes depicted in shelters—to raise money."

According to recent public polling performed by ORC International, 71 percent of Americans mistakenly believe that the Humane Society of the United States is a pet shelter umbrella group and 68 percent wrongly believe that HSUS gives most of its money to local pet shelters.

CCF asks Americans to give to their local humane society.

For more information go to www.HumaneWatch.org or contact Allison Miller at 202-463-7112

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies, and consumers, working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

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