Seeing Clearly on HSUS

Thanks to our new billboards in Times Square, New Yorkers and visitors from around the country (and the world) are learning the scandalous truth about the Humane Society of the United States: It gives just one percent of the money it raises to pet shelters. Despite its name, it doesn't run a single pet shelter.

Of course, it’s hard to fit a billboard in your office. So help clear up any blurry visions of HSUS with our new eye chart.

Hindsight’s 20/20—so do shelter pets a favor and make sure your next gift goes to your local humane society, not HSUS. Give a copy to your vet or maybe even your optometrist. 

Click the image below to view a PDF (designed for 11” x 17” paper, but will also print on 8.5” x 11”).

The Visual HSUS, Part 12

The Humane Society of the United States (unrelated to your local humane society) is facing more and more public scrutiny as people catch on to its misleading and deceptive tactics. As the Attorney General of Nebraska recently put it, “They are advertising puppies on TV, but then they come in here … trying to end meat consumption in America.”

We’ve documented how HSUS’s fundraising is misleading. And the Attorney General has the basic formula down pat: Heart-wrenching images of abused pets are the vast majority of animals in HSUS’s TV appeals, yet HSUS doesn’t run a single pet shelter and donates just 1 percent of its budget to pet shelters.

How great is the disparity between the language HSUS uses in its fundraising appeals versus what the organization and its leaders really think? Click the graphic below for a few choice examples.

The Visual HSUS, Part 11

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) isn’t affiliated with any local humane societies or pet shelters, and it doesn’t run any pet shelters itself. It could certainly afford to—HSUS spent $126 million last year. Yet less than 1 percent of its budget was grants to support pet sheltering.

HSUS raises millions from local communities and doesn’t give the money back. In West Virginia, for example, HSUS raised over $420,000—but didn’t make a single grant to support pet sheltering in the Mountain State.

How little does HSUS give to support sheltering in your state? We’ve updated our U.S. map to reflect the most recent (2010) figures. (Click on the map to view the PDF.)

Update 11/14/11: To be clear, the percentages are of HSUS's total budget.

Follow the links to view our past entries in the Visual HSUS series: [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10]

The Visual HSUS, Part 10

Imagine you hold public office at the federal, state, or local level, and a lobbyist comes into your office. That’s nothing notable—but if he tells you his group has 11 million supporters nationwide, you’re going to sit up in your chair and listen to what he has to say. It certainly may push you off the fence on an issue.

HSUS is waving a big stick in front of lawmakers’ faces. HSUS claims that it has 11 million “members and constituents” and, in one recent instance, that it is “backed by” 12 million Americans. Any organization should be expected to engage in a good bit of puffery, but this is ridiculous.

That’s because HSUS’s own fundraising material demonstrates that the organization has a mere 1.2 million actual members. And HSUS’s tax returns show that its All Animals magazine, which is included with a basic $25 HSUS membership, only has a circulation of 450,000.

Here’s our question: Is HSUS engaging in a little creative accounting?

If you’d like to see the nitty gritty of how we’ve dissected HSUS’s claims of support, read here, here, and here for more.

The Visual HSUS, Part 9

The “Humane Society” of the United States gives less than 1 percent of its budget to hands-on pet shelters. As we spread this message further and further, people continue to be shocked. And after this initial reaction, they often ask, “Where does the money go?”

As we discussed on Monday, a whopping 43 percent of HSUS’s budget goes to overhead. And of the money that actually is spent on programs, much goes to support a broad PETA-type agenda for animal rights—not animal welfare.

Today’s graphic is a helpful way of remembering where HSUS’s priorities are. Be sure to pass it around to your friends. And follow the links to view our past entries: [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8]

The Visual HSUS, Part 8

Today we’re releasing the eighth entry in our “Visual HSUS” series. Our latest graphic is on HSUS’s significant lobbying activities. (Click on the picture below to view it.)

Under its original articles of incorporation, HSUS is forbidden from engaging in substantial attempts to influence legislation. Specifically:

No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall consist of the carrying on of propoganda [sic] or otherwise attempting to influence legislation or to participate or intervene (including the publishing and distribution of statements) in any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. (Emphasis added.)

But as CEO Wayne Pacelle put it during a Fox News interview about his recent Capitol Hill visit with convicted dogfighting kingpin Michael Vick, “We are here to lobby.” He’s not joking—HSUS spent far more on lobbying during the past two years than it spent on pet-shelter grants, according to its tax returns. It’s part of a larger, sadder trend at HSUS.

Follow the links to view our past entries: [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7]

The Visual HSUS, Part 7

Today we’re releasing the seventh entry in our “Visual HSUS” series. (Hopefully, we’ll have as many entries as HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle has book-tour stops.) Follow the links to view past entries: [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6]

The latest visual is a timeline of HSUS’s controversial relationship with convicted dogfighting kingpin Michael Vick. Many animal lovers felt betrayed when HSUS agreed to work with Vick following his release from prison. But the partnership between Pacelle and Vick bloomed to the point where Pacelle said last winter he thinks Vick “would do a good job as a pet owner.” Many folks were outraged, and with good reason.

But the disturbing “bond” between the duo is Act Two of a sordid play. When Vick was first indicted, HSUS raised money on the promise to “care for” the animals seized. But just two weeks later, Pacelle told a newspaper that HSUS didn’t know where the animals were, and that HSUS was in fact recommending the animals be killed. (Many of the dogs have since been rehabilitated.)

What’s next for this dynamic duo? We weep for the future.