The Murky Sea of Cult Money

Remember “Supreme Master” Ching Hai? She’s the reputed Taiwanese cult leader we reported on last year. That’s when HSUS’s top (vegan) M.D., Michael Greger, got cozy enough with Ching Hai to appear on her “Supreme Master TV” network. Now we’ve learned that Ching Hai’s international empire recently gave HSUS a $50,000 donation. Is it any surprise that HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle is now a big admirer?

For the unfamiliar, websites promote Ching Hai as God’s "Immediate" and "Direct" Contact. Hear any alarm bells yet?

Scam, Sham, or Flim-Flam?

There’s no shortage of allegations of charity scams these days, from the Central Asia Institute to Lady Gaga.  And this week the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against a nonprofit called the Coalition Against Breast Cancer, claiming the group solicited $9.1 million over the past five years and spent barely any of it on breast-cancer prevention or research programs:

Over the past five years, the organization spent less than four percent of all donations on any of its alleged charitable programs. In 2008, for example, CABC raised over $1.4 million but spent just $374 on mammograms. The group funded mammograms for 11 women over the last three years, despite having raised more than $4 million, the investigation found.

Two of the organization's three directors paid themselves more than $550,000 in combined salaries from 2005 to 2009, another $150,000 in retirement accounts and dental and medical benefits that totaled at least $9,000 per year.

Sound familiar? A similar complaint could be made against the Humane Society of the United States.

HSUS’s Animal-Care (In)Efficiency

In response to criticism about its spending practices, the Humane Society of the United States is fond of saying that it “provides hands-on care to more animals than any other organization.” It’s a strong talking point, and as far as we can tell, it’s true–if you exclude many cattle feedlots, a handful of dairies, and an awful lot of chicken and egg producers. And a few large pet-store chains. (All those goldfish!) And the biomedical companies that breed mice for testing to seek cancer and AIDS cures.

But we digress. If nothing else, HSUS’s claim needs a little context. How efficient is HSUS’s hands-on animal care in comparison with other nonprofit groups?

It’s hard to say for certain how many animals HSUS cares for. From browsing through its 2009 annual report, we estimate that figure to be about 66,000: 10,000 animals via HSUS’s “animal rescue” team (although those are temporary care situations); 16,000 in veterinary treatment and wildlife sanctuaries; 40,000 spay/neuter cases during HSUS’s Spay Day (also temporary). Unlike in previous years, HSUS didn’t break it all down in a nice info-box in 2009, so there’s some guesswork involved.

If anything, our number is probably overly generous. HSUS says that those 40,000 spay/neuter procedures were “performed by nearly 400 organizers in 24 countries during HSUS and HSI Spay Day events.”—which sounds like HSUS itself hardly saw any of them. And as the indispensable YesBiscuit! blog has showed us, HSUS’s “rescues” sometimes result in certain death for many “saved” animals anyway.

HSUS’s total expenses were about $130 million, meaning that it spent about $1,970 for every animal it provided with hands-on care.  How does this number stack up against real humane societies?

LA Times Editorial: HSUS Doesn’t Support Local Pet Shelters

If you’re coming to HumaneWatch for the first time today because you saw an editorial that criticized us in today’s Los Angeles Times, welcome! It seems our hard-hitting national ads, including a recent one in the Times, have struck a nerve. Tinseltown is fast becoming the Humane Society of the United States’s power center, so we’re not surprised to learn that its leaders apparently persuaded the Times to take a closer look at our campaign to keep them honest.

The Times Editorial Board told its readers two important facts about the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Commenting on our recent ads in the paper, they wrote:

One of the current ads features a photo of dogs looking wide-eyed in shock under the caption "SURPRISED to hear the Humane Society of the United States shares only 1 percent of your donations with local pet shelters?" The ad goes on to state that the Humane Society "is NOT your local animal shelter.

The ad is true on both counts.

Too few Americans are aware of HSUS's misplaced priorities and the Times' reiteration of our central message is an important step in educating more Americans about HSUS's deception. But alas, the newspaper's editors couldn't stop there. They go on to write:

But [the ad is] also misleading. The Humane Society has never claimed that its mission is to fund local animal shelters... While some people may mistakenly believe that the Humane Society of the United States does the same job local humane societies do, it should not surprise anyone who has looked at the organization's website that only a small percentage of its money goes to local shelters.

Here we disagree—strongly. There is an important distinction between HSUS's claims and public perception. Although the Humane Society of the United States never explicitly claims to support local hands-on pet shelters, it does go out of its way to perpetuate the myth that its primary focus is helping homeless dogs and cats. The result? Robust national polling shows that 71 percent of Americans believe HSUS is an umbrella organization for the nation's hands-on pet shelters.

Wayne Pacelle, Humane Bully?

A firestorm erupted in the animal welfare community several weeks ago when the State Humane Association of California (SHAC, which represents over 140 humane societies, SPCAs and animal control agencies) filed a complaint with the state Attorney General against the ASPCA. With a bombshell letter from HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle, the firestorm just got a lot hotter.

SHAC’s problem is the name confusion between the ASPCA and individual SPCAs located in California (which are not affiliated with the ASPCA). SHAC says many California donors give to the ASPCA thinking—in part based on ASPCA’s fundraising messages—that their contributions will trickle down to California SPCAs. (The money largely doesn’t.)

The same argument can be applied to HSUS, of course, which isn’t affiliated with any “humane society” pet shelters anywhere in California. Surely HSUS feels threatened by the action against the ASPCA, since it could find itself on the hot seat next.

This is where Pacelle’s letter comes in. He sent it to Steve McNall, a member of SHAC’s board of directors. (McNall is also president of the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA.)  We received a copy of the letter in the HumaneWatch post office box this week.

(Note: It’s important to distinguish this “SHAC” from a violent animal rights group with the same initials, whose leaders were convicted in 2006 on federal terrorism charges. We’re not talking about that “SHAC.” More after the jump.)

Has HSUS’s Lobbying Prowess Been Neutered?

Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Humane Society of the United States just might be learning this one the hard way.

HSUS, which isn’t affiliated with your local pet shelter, spent more than $17 million of its donors’ money on lobbying efforts between 2005 and 2009 while giving far less than that to hands-on pet shelters.

Currently on HSUS’s lobbying agenda are state ballot initiatives in Washington and Oregon to force egg farmers (and consumers) to go “cage-free.” These are sequels to the group’s 2008 “Proposition 2” campaign in California.

Today HSUS lost the support of The Oregonian, the largest newspaper in the Beaver State. This marks the second major Oregon setback for HSUS in a few months’ time.

HSUS’s political credibility is going to the dogs.

The Visual HSUS

The legendary animal behaviorist Temple Grandin says that other than autistic “pattern” thinkers (like herself), most people are either verbal thinkers or visual thinkers.

So far, HumaneWatch has focused mostly on words—tens of thousands of them—to show how deceptive and unscrupulous the Humane Society of the United States can be. But beginning today, we’re going to take better care of you “visual thinkers” out there.

We’re pleased to present the first installment of The Visual HSUS, a graphic series that we hope will make you think about the animal rights group in a new way. We hope you pass these pieces around to your friends, and we really hope you learn something new from each one.

Each graphic will be available as a poster, too. They’re perfect as gifts to veterinarians, pet shelter staff, classroom teachers, and animal lovers everywhere.

Today’s visual is titled “HSUS By the Numbers.” (Click on the image below to view the PDF.) Stay tuned as we present a new on every two weeks until—well … until the Humane Society of the United States starts behaving like a real humane society. And if you'd like personal copies of today's visual, you can order postcard-size and poster-size versions on Zazzle.