HumaneWatch

Yesterday HSUS began a new wave of promotion for its vegetarian “Humane Choice” dog food, starting with a note on its Facebook wall announcing that this "nutritious, delicious, and cruelty-free" kibble is available at some Whole Foods stores. (HSUS gets a cut of the price from each bag sold.)

Back in February we explored a number of reasons why this venture is a bad idea. Dogs aren’t meant to be vegetarians, for one thing. And it looks like most of HSUS’s own Facebook fans understand this.

While there are some supporters, the comments on Facebook are largely against the idea of selling a dog food containing no aninal protein. Here’s what some are saying about "Humane Choice," and about HSUS's decision to force its politics into the doggy dish:

In 2007, the Humane Society of the United States got a federal law passed that prohibits the U.S. Department of Agriculture from spending tax dollars to inspect horse meat. So although there’s nothing illegal about slaughtering horses for human consumption, the practice is halted as a practical matter. HSUS couldn’t be happier with that, of course.

Has the result been good for horses? The answer isn't as obvious as you think.

Unwanted horses are as much a part of life as unwanted dogs and cats, but the economics of the situation are a bit different. For starters, eating dogs and cats is pretty uncommon in the Western world, while horse meat can be found in most European and Canadian grocery stores (and all over Japan).

Sadly, Americans euthanize millions of “surplus” (we hate that term) pets every year, and no dog owner expects to “sell” his or her animal at the end of its life. On the contrary, euthanizing a family pet costs money. Most horse owners, however (especially in the American West), consider the animals to be livestock. Until a few years ago, a horse would actually bring a price when it was time to “put it down,” because there was a commercial market for the animal’s meat.

But no more, thanks to HSUS. The animal rights group doesn’t seem to have a problem with euthanizing horses, but it continues to oppose processing them for meat. This has created a cash crunch for horse owners all over America. And human nature being what it is, the end result is a lot of unwanted horses being turned loose to fend for themselves—or worse.

The more you dig into the history of the Humane Society of the United States, the harder it is to escape the conclusion that it (and its top spokespersons) used to be much more honest about their goals and ideas.

More PETA-like, if you will.

Today's HSUS campaigns are focus-grouped and carefully calibrated for mass appeal (and maximum fundraising impact). But it's almost like they also  mask a deeper desire to lead everyone—somewhere.

Somewhere distinctively PETA-ish.

Given what we know about today's HSUS's institutional anti-meat feelings, for instance, it shouldn't come as a surprise to read that HSUS leaders were once quite open about their desire to promote a vegetarian revolution. So saith Vegetarian Times, anyway.

Has HSUS always been a vegetarian stealth-bomber? Let's take a look.

Following HSUS’s farm animal push in Ohio and California, it’s worth examining what the group believes about eating—especially since campaign director Paul Shapiro recently claimed HSUS “does not have an ‘anti-meat’ agenda.”

If you don’t read Animal People, the animal rights movement’s unofficial newspaper, you might want to. It provides a lot of “inside baseball” about movers and shakers in the movement—such as this note that Wayne Pacelle “hypothetically proposed a three-way merger of HSUS, the Fund [For Animals], and PETA as long ago as 1988.”

Every year, Animal People publishes a Watchdog Report about various animal rights nonprofits like HSUS. And the 2009 edition includes this interesting little gem. Since 2005 (one year after Wayne Pacelle took over), HSUS has had this official food policy:

At HSUS internal events where food is served and to which staff and/or guests have been invited to participate, HSUS will purchase vegan fare and we will strive to have organic products…External events under the control of HSUS should also provide for the purchase of all non-animal products.  If this is not possible, events should be vegetarian—no meat (including fish and shellfish). For events sponsored by HSUS with other organizations, strong efforts should be made to serve all vegan or vegetarian food. Partnering organization are to be informed that vegan options should be available and that they are preferred. Any animal products served at co-sponsored events should be Certified Humane, in keeping with HSUS support for this program.

In other words, slipping in a little bacon into a BLT could be a firing offense in HSUS-land. No wonder the only food HSUS officially endorses is "Tofurky."

Remember Dr. Michael Greger? He’s the top M.D. at the Humane Society of the United States. (Why is it that HSUS's leadership includes a medical doctor, but no veterinarians? Just a random observation.)

When he's not busy trashing his debating opponents and prosyletizing alongside his favorite Taiwanese cult leader, Greger hits the lecture circuit. And he memorializes his lectures in a series of Humane Society of the United States-branded DVDs that HSUS markets (mostly) to like-minded vegans.

The latest offering in that series is called “Latest in Clinical Nutrition volume 4.” It’s a three-hour presentation that covers a hodgepodge of new health research from the past year. And boy, is it full of gems.

Did you ever want to know about zinc gel for colds? Greasy orange rectal leakage? Diet and marijuana receptors? Greger’s got the latest two-minute blurb.

Of course, some of these are strange topics for HSUS to slap its logo on—since when does an animal rights group care about vinegar?—until you realize that it’s basically a façade for Greger to slip meat-bashing and tofu-loving into a 2-DVD boxed set.

"Don't Eat Me," according to its Facebook page, is "an upcoming docu-film on animal rights and veganism."

The film's producer is an 18-year old Canadian woman named Nadia Masoudi. (Her father, conveniently, is a vegan who runs a video production and marketing company.) And according to a press release, she's also organizing "a world-wide event called Animal Freedom Day, which takes place on July 24th 2010."

This one is a doozy. It's pure vegan-utopia stuff, with a not-so-articulate adolescent writing style. Two of Masoudi's stated goals are:

• To globally promote refraining from eating meat, poultry, fish/seafood and animal bi-products [sic].
• To pass a [sic] legislation for all governments to halt the advertisements of raw flesh/meat appearances on any marketing medium.

Why pay any attention to what amounts to a high-school teenager's vanity project? For one thing, the multi-gajillion-dollar Humane Society of the United States is listed among Masoudi's sponsors, right alongside PETA, the Vegetarian Society, VIVA!, Compassion Over Killing, and other organizations with zero-compromise attitudes toward meat and dairy foods. (Side note: What the heck is the Comfort Inn hotel chain doing co-sponsoring this?) [Update 6/21/10 -- Comfort Inn's logo has been taken down.]

Also, HSUS has already been promoting Masoudi (and her veganize-everyone goals) to its youth audience on its "Humane Teen" website.

It's not likely that this film (or its related ad hoc veggie holiday) will amount to much. So why would HSUS publicly hitch its wagon to it? Is the group getting sloppy about hiding its affinity for the whole vegan agenda thing? Or has Wayne Pacelle finally let HSUS come out of the closet and admit that it sings from   PETA's hymnal?

This should be fun to watch.

There are usually unintended consequences to activist campaigns like those pressed by the Humane Society of the United States. Here's one.

Last weekend a series of devastating tornadoes tore through northern Indiana and Ohio, bringing 170-mph winds and leaving little in their wake but twisted barns, ripped-up roads, and uprooted trees.

Oh ... and lots of healthy (if a bit scared) pigs.

Why? They were in gestation crates. The very devices that HSUS wants outlawed. Logansport, Indiana native Ryan Harter told CNN's iReport that "no pigs had lost their lives in this mess." (Seven people weren't so fortunate.)

This is admittedly an extreme example, but it underscores how farm equipment like this is intended to protect livestock.

Gestation crates protect pigs from inhaling the fumes of (or, yes, eating) their own waste. They protect docile animals from more aggressive ones. They ensure the individual feeding and veterinary care of each animal, instead of letting a few hundred of them fend for themselves. And farrowing crates are actually designed to prevent a sow from crushing her entire litter by rolling over onto them.

Farmers know these things. And I suspect that HSUS's leaders do too. But only one of those groups seems to care.

More eye-popping photos after the jump.