PRESS RELEASE: HSUS CEO Says It’s “Okay” for Ex-Dogfighting Kingpin Michael Vick to Own a Dog

Washington, DC – Today HumaneWatch.org, a project of the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), is calling out Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) CEO Wayne Pacelle for his recent remarks at the Philadelphia Fur Ball. Pacelle reportedly proclaimed it was “okay” for convicted dog abuser Michael Vick to own another dog, stating he is “concerned about more than one dog.”

HumaneWatch.org points to the Philadelphia Eagles’ $50,000 donation to HSUS in 2009 as one possible motivation for Pacelle’s indefensible suggestion that Vick should be allowed to own more dogs. HSUS has continued its rehabilitation tour for Vick’s image after he was found guilty of unspeakable animal cruelty. In 2010, Pacelle told an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter that Vick “would do a good job as a pet owner,” but quickly backtracked after a justified uproar from animal lovers across the country.

“It is dumbfounding that Pacelle is doubling down on his belief that a convicted animal abuser should be allowed to own another animal,” said J. Justin Wilson, CCF’s Senior Research Analyst. 

Before HSUS used Vick as an ambassador, it ran a misleading online fundraising campaign, pledging to “care for the dogs seized” at Vick’s home. Wayne Pacelle later admitted to The New York Times that HSUS was not caring for the dogs, and in fact had recommended that officials “put down” the animals. Despite HSUS’s wishes, many of those dogs have successfully been placed in new homes.

Following Vick’s alliance with HSUS, the Pennsylvania SPCA reported that animal-fighting investigations significantly spiked upward. Compared with 2008, Pennsylvania SPCA animal fighting investigations tripled in 2009, the year Vick signed with the Eagles and partnered with HSUS, and rose again in 2010. “Michael Vick in my view definitely enters into the equation,” the PSPCA’s director of investigations has stated.

“When it comes to Michael Vick, HSUS has always had its priorities in the wrong place,” said Wilson. “HSUS is successful at emotionally manipulating pet lovers to fund a big pension plan but offers little assistance to actual dogs and cats.”

For more information, visit www.HumaneWatch.org. To schedule an interview, 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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Times Square Billboards Blast Humane Society of the United States

Good news: We've got, two new HumaneWatch billboards in Times Square! They're on the corner of West 46th Street and 7th Avenue -- a great location. Here are some photos; our press release follows below. (For our previous billboards in Times Square, see here and here.)

Watchdog Group’s Times Square Billboards Blast Humane Society of the United States
HumaneWatch.org Warns HSUS Donors: A Tiny Fraction of Contributions Go To Help Pet Shelters

Washington, DC – Today HumaneWatch.org, a project of the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom, unveiled two new Times Square billboards on the corner of West 46^th Street and 7^th Ave. The billboards highlight the Humane Society of the United States’ (HSUS) duplicitous fundraising practices—as 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 billboards feature a dog and cat reminding Americans to “read the fine print” and not let “HSUS disguise itself as a local pet shelter.” 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.

“HSUS uses emotionally manipulative ads to raise money on the backs of abandoned and abused dogs and cats, yet it gives just one penny of each dollar it raises to local pet shelters,” said CCF Senior Research Analyst J. Justin Wilson. “Our Times Square billboards are educating Americans about HSUS to ensure their donations go to support the cause they intended. If they want their dollars 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’s advertisements routinely employ the images of downtrodden dogs and cats to tug at the heart strings and wallets of America’s pet lovers. However, according to the animal rights group’s own tax documents it shared a meager 1 percent of its $126 million budget with sheltering organizations nationwide in 2010. In the same year, HSUS spent an astounding $47 million in fundraising-related costs (37 percent of its total budget) and parked $32 million in hedge funds.

Wilson continued, “HSUS should know full well that the American public experiences ‘humane society’ brand confusion, yet it continues to mislead the public with multi-million dollar ad campaigns.”

For more information, visit www.ConsumerFreedom.com. To schedule an interview, 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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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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PRESS RELEASE: Humane Society of the United States Still Stiffing Nation’s Pet Shelters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Watchdog Report: Humane Society of the United States Still Stiffing Nation’s Pet Shelters
HumaneWatch.org Analysis Finds HSUS Continues to Share Less than One Percent with Hands-on Animal Shelters

Read the full report here (PDF).

Washington, DC – Today HumaneWatch.org, a project of the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), released its second 50-state report, “Not Your Local Humane Society,” highlighting the failure of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to significantly share its multi-million dollar budget with local hands-on animal shelters.

HSUS’s advertisements employ the images of downtrodden dogs and cats to tug at the heart strings and wallets of America’s pet lovers. But CCF’s new analysis finds HSUS is a “Humane Society” in name only, sharing a meager $527,566, or 0.4 percent of its $120 million budget with sheltering organizations nationwide in 2010. In the same year, HSUS spent an astounding $47 million in fundraising-related costs (37 percent of its total budget) and parked $32 million in hedge funds.

“Not Your Local Humane Society” includes an accounting of all grants to pet shelters made by HSUS during the years 2008, 2009, and 2010. The data is drawn directly from the animal rights group’s tax returns.

“The Humane Society of the United States would like Americans to believe it provides significant monetary support to local hands-on shelters, but their financial records tell an inconvenient truth,” said Rick Berman, CCF’s executive director. “As local shelters struggle to keep their doors open, HSUS is raising millions of dollars a month from unwitting donors to bankroll an animal rights agenda and fund a huge staff of lawyers and lobbyists, a bloated executive pension plan, and exorbitant fundraising expenses. Meanwhile, HSUS doesn't run a single shelter for the abandoned dogs and cats that are so plentiful in its ads.”

HSUS raised a staggering $131 million in 2010, mostly from Americans who believed their donations would filter down to local pet shelters. According to a recent national poll, over 71% of Americans mistakenly believe that HSUS is a pet-shelter umbrella group, while 59 percent incorrectly believe HSUS contributes most of its money to local hands-on pet-care groups.In August, HSUS earned a “D” grade from the American Institute of Philanthropy, a respected charity watchdog that analyzes how well charities use donations.

“With over $215 million in assets HSUS could clearly afford to live up to its undeserved reputation as a major contributor to local shelters,” continued Berman. “By continuing to drain precious resources from local shelters, HSUS is only proving it’s not a true 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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PRESS RELEASE: Consumer Group Files Attorney General Complaint Against HSUS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Consumer Group Files Attorney General Complaint Against Humane Society of the United States
Deceptive “Doggie-Dollar” Fundraising Fuels Call to Action

Washington, DC – Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) sent a letter to the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris requesting that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) be included in any possible investigation into deceptive fundraising in the Golden State. In May, the State Humane Association of California, which represents more than 100 animal welfare and control organizations in the state, filed a complaint with the Attorney General alleging unfair and deceptive fundraising by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

The State Humane Association of California alleges that “ASPCA’s unfair and deceptive fundraising practices harm local humane societies and SPCAs by capitalizing on and reinforcing the widely-held mistaken belief that the ASPCA is a parent or umbrella organization to the thousands of humane societies and SPCAs across the country.” CCF believes that these complaints also apply to the Humane Society of the United States.

“HSUS relies on and utilizes the popular misperception that it is a pet-shelter umbrella group, or that it is affiliated with local humane societies,” stated CCF executive director Rick Berman. “While its ads consist almost exclusively of dogs and cats, HSUS doesn’t run a single shelter for abused and abandoned cats and dogs. HSUS’s tactics suck dollars out of communities and away from local pet shelters.”

According to recent national polling, 71 percent of Americans mistakenly believe that HSUS is a pet-shelter umbrella group, while 59 percent incorrectly believe HSUS contributes most of its money to local hands-on pet-care groups.

“This deception has gone on for too long,” continued Berman. “It’s high time for the Attorney General to rein in HSUS’s fundraising tactics and require the organization to divulge the truth in its ads: That HSUS is not a pet-sheltering organization or 'humane society' umbrella group, and that less than 1 percent of its budget is sent to pet shelters.”

A copy of the letter can be read at http://www.humanewatch.org/images/uploads/CaliforniaAGLetter.pdf

PRESS RELEASE: Watchdog Group Urges Humane Association to Expand Attorney General Complaint

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Watchdog Group Urges Humane Association to Expand Attorney General Complaint Against the ASPCA

Humane Organization Should Also Target HSUS For Deceptive Fundraising

Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is calling on the State Humane Association of California to expand a May 3 deceptive-fundraising complaint it filed with Attorney General Kamala Harris against the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Through its “HumaneWatch” project (www.HumaneWatch.org), CCF has uncovered evidence that the fundraising practices of the wealthy Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are equally unethical.

The Humane Association alleges that the ASPCA’s deceptive ads drain animal lovers’ money out of communities without informing donors that only a tiny fraction will return to California-based SPCAs and other pet shelters.

“Targeting deceptive animal fundraising campaigns is a great idea, but it shouldn’t stop with the ASPCA,” said CCF Executive Director Rick Berman. “The ASPCA at least runs one pet shelter. HSUS is just a mammoth lobbying outfit that shares less than 1 percent of its money with hands-on pet shelters. But the pictures in HSUS’s fundraising ads are practically 100 percent cats and dogs.”

New HumaneWatch Billboard Hits Times Square

New Yorkers (and tourists) visiting Times Square today will notice a new HumaneWatch billboard on Seventh Avenue, between 48th and 49th Streets.

Thanks to a certain celebrity collie for providing the inspiration for this successor to our February five-billboard installation. (If you missed that one in Times Square, you can view it here.)

Click on the images to enlarge. Our press release is below, after the jump.