Dec 27 2010
Of Missing Press Releases and Missing Dogs
A few weeks before Christmas, something truly strange happened: The Humane Society of the United States conducted an apparently charitable animal rescue, and then proceeded to delete all traces of its self-congratulatory press release from the Internet. Trouble in pet-shelter paradise? Let’s take a look.
(First, a little credit where credit is due: We wouldn’t know about this case if it weren’t for Shirley, who blogs at http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com. She’s a gifted writer with a nose for research and a passion for animals. Highly recommended.)
On December 8, the Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, NC reported that HSUS had “transported 10 rescued dogs to the Lincoln County Animal Shelter.” Two things made this unusual. First, the dogs were rescued from Alabama, not North Carolina. Second, the Lincoln County Animal Shelter has a very high animal “kill rate”—and it uses a gas chamber to euthanize unwanted dogs, a gruesome method of which HSUS itself has been quite critical.
Thankfully, Shirley saved HSUS’s press release. Hers is now the only copy anywhere online:
The Humane Society of the United States Transports Rescued Dogs to Lincolnton Shelter
(Dec. 8, 2010) – The Humane Society of the United States transported 10 dogs rescued from Alabama to Lincoln County Animal Shelter. These dogs, mostly retriever mixes, are among 44 rescued by The HSUS from poor conditions in Marshall County, Ala. The owner surrendered the dogs when she became overwhelmed and could no longer properly care for all of the animals.
“These dogs are already starting to warm up to their new caretakers at the shelter and want nothing more than to be part of loving homes this holiday season,” said Ashley Mauceri, deputy director of cruelty issues for The HSUS. “Please consider visiting the Lincoln County Animal Shelter and giving one of these resilient dogs a second chance at a happy life.”
Please reach out to the Lincoln County Shelter directly to find out how you can adopt one of these dogs.
Asked why HSUS moved 10 dogs across state lines to a shelter that was already overcrowded and euthanizing animals left and right, Lincoln County Animal Services Supervisor Jack Kerley said:
“Because we were asked to. We were doing a favor for the Humane Society of the U.S.” …
Kerley said he is hopeful that the dogs will be adopted but admits that they may be gassed to death if they are not adopted, even though the Humane Society of the United States deplores putting pets in the gas chamber.
This story keeps getting weirder and weirder.
Before we go any further, let’s be clear about one thing: The circumstances from which these Alabama dogs (44 in all, including the 10 relocated to North Carolina) were rescued was probably quite bad. This was a “hoarding” situation. No one should be happy about it.
But HSUS swooped in and took ownership of those animals, so it’s fair to ask what happened to them and why. With a $120 million budget, HSUS could clearly have afforded to find these animals “forever homes” if it wanted to.
So what of their condition? Some of the new arrivals from Alabama that Lincoln County Animal Services listed on Petfinder (examples here and here) look to be in remarkable health compared to other animals we’ve seen rescued from hoarders.
Oh—and despite the fact that they’re still both listed as “available for adoption,” both of these animals are already dead. Euthanized in Lincoln County’s gas chamber, days ago.
This is where the line between HSUS fiction and HSUS reality starts to blur. On December 8, HSUS’ press release (now MIA) claimed that the dogs were “are already starting to warm up to their new caretakers”—in other words, success! But yesterday in comments posted on an article at The Examiner, HSUS’s Sarah Barnett wrote the following:
The 44 chow x retriever dogs in the back yard were unsocial, inbred, unvetted, unaltered and although were being provided with food and water to the best of the owner abilities, were in fact injuring and killing each other. They were loose in a large fenced area and had developed true pack behavior …It is our understanding that one of the dogs bit a caregiver and one shut down and was not responding to care. Since there have now been allegations of wrongdoing at the shelter, the dogs have been moved. We cannot substantiate any of the allegations, however.
So … failure? Could this be why HSUS scrubbed its initially sunny press release?
Or is this just par for the course for HSUS? Shirley’s “YesBiscuit” blog reprints the entirety of Barnett’s comment, along with a nearly verbatim (but longer) second version from HSUS Alabama State Director (read: lobbyist) Mindy Gilbert.
Shirley also reprints an e-mail she received from PAWS Atlanta, which also received 10 of the dogs HSUS pulled out of Alabama. That organization’s representative depicts pretty much the opposite of the aggressive dogs Barnett describes as “injuring and killing each other”:
The dogs were very timid upon arrival, though all of them were exceptionally sweet and kind-hearted. They are quickly coming out of their shells.
It’s worth noting that PAWS Atlanta is the same nonprofit rescue that was critical of HSUS’s fundraising tactics in a 2009 WSB-TV report that HSUS subsequently tried to “scrub” from the Internet (just like its December 8 press release).
How many of these dogs will survive? Where are the other two dozen? Nobody knows. Shirley is keeping tabs here and here. Her summaries are well worth reading for anyone who’s curious about HSUS’s priorities.
Some months ago we pointed out a major requirement of HSUS’s Bylaws:
All available funds of the Society shall be used for the immediate relief of suffering and the vigorous prosecution of humane education except as otherwise provided by law or the specific terms of a gift or mandate of a donor.
Which is this? Does HSUS define “immediate relief of suffering” as fast-tracking homeless dogs to the quickest death possible? The alternative—that this episode is an example of good “humane education”—makes equally little sense.
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Comments
Thanks for this blog posting. Something is definitely not right here. I appreciate your keeping an eye on this situation.
When will people start to realize that the HSUS is just a money grab to fill their pockets? They are not there for the animals. Only to get money from the public and live like kings without getting a real job. HSUS, you should go live in with the other swindlers in the other countries. You would fit right in.
I wish there were a way we could eliminate the HSUS. They don’t do any good for the animals, anyway. Maybe develop a governmental group that just keep local shelters running properly and with proper funds. Is there some sort of way we can create a lobby of people against them. I see a lot of bad information on the HSUS but i don’t really hear about any fights against them. I would join.
There is nothing even mildly surprising here. HSUS = PETA = HSUS = PETA. They’re not the same organization, but their “ways” are so similar that they might as well be. They are equally misleading and just all around worthless. The more they are exposed, the better.
This is “apparently” a picture of some of the dogs seized in that raid. Pulled from the PAWS Atlanta facebook page…
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150099496679874&set=a.124430599873.124848.111305539873
Note the second comment…
“PAWS Atlanta Yes, this is the picture we received from H.S.U.S.”
They don’t look like an unruly pack of unhealthy dogs by any means.
I can’t say for sure these are the dogs from the above mentioned raid but it seems they may be.
thanks Shirley for keeping the original information!
It is not hard at all to figure out why HSUS sent these dogs to all kill shelter, it is in furtherance of HSUS’ leader’s stated comments of “one generation and out.. we have no problem with the extinction of domestic animals” and “I would like to never see another cat or dog born”.... No mystery at all.
HSUS unloaded 45 cats on the Montgomery Humane Society not too long ago, I wonder why they didn’t a) use the same shelter (or look for another in-state shelter) or b) send all the dogs to the same shelter.
Yes, I’m being rhetorical.
http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=13508841
after reading this artical, i feel i must say for anyone who feels it was unusual for these animals to be transported acrost state lines to another shelter…there wrong, i’ve worked with in the rescue’s here in nc for many years, and we have intercepted many and plenty of animals from other states…the rescues mainly do this to help prevent one certain rescue from being overwhelmed from all the animals…and as far as the comment about the high kill rate comming from animal control of lincoln county….i’ve seen the shelters director spend days on the phone doing everything they can to have the dogs transfered out to a no-kill shelter over haveing to gas them. for every person who sit’s here passing any judgement on this story or any other story of this nature, i sure hope you also took the time to donate some much needed funding along with you opinion, i say this on behalf of every shelter nation wide, this job would be alot easier to maintain, and alot less animals would have to be put down once comming into shelters if more people did more donating then just preaching how horriable it is to kill a dog because most shelters just dont have the funding needed to treat more then half the sick or injured dogs that come through there facility! i personally hate the idea of any animal getting out down, but with out the public’s help what else do you expect…dig a little deeper into your pockets the next time you wish to judge any of us who work with rescue dogs…were doing everything we can to save these dogs, what are you doing to help?
well thank you ally for your insight. I’m sure there are a lot of good people at shelters that work hard to save dogs, but that point being made, I think, is that when you hold a high position w/any organization, you really have to exercise much thought before you say or have things done. The fact that animals cannot speak for themselves is the fact that people get agitated when they hear stories like this. There are many, many people that donate time and money to shelters, but when things do not appear to be to proper procedures, they will pull out and go to some cause that they believe will better facilitate their gifts.
I have to wonder if this was a true “hoarding” situation. Yes, there are a lot of dogs, but they all look well cared for with shiny coasts, carrying their tails high, lolling tongues, and they appear to be relaxed around each other. They all appear healthy.
Besides all that the owner surrendered the dogs herself because she became overwhelmed that she could “no longer” take care of them. This isn’t something a true hoarder does, they keep all their animals and continue to bring in more even though they can’t be properly taken care of. This is a woman who had a lot of dogs and realized that it would be better for the dogs if she gave some up. Big difference.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150099496679874&set=a.124430599873.124848.111305539873
This is not surprising. I contacted HSUS about dog abuse at an Ohio prison and was told they do not involve themselves in that and to contact someone locally. What bull!
You’re all right, its just about the money. Maybe Michael Vick made a big donation so now they are saying he is rehabilitated.
@ally, I applaud your committment and effort. Many of us on this site help as we can too. My point is, you should be outraged at HSUS - they have planty of funds to help many shelters if they would quit lining their pension pockets and hiring lawyers to go after farms and breeders. In fact, their advertising draws a continuous stream of donations that are supposedly assisting in the care and placement - “SAVING” of animals. I do not criticize the local shelters efforts, even high kill ones, I criticize HSUS for decitful solicitation of donations and not putting their funds where it really counts - to the underfunded local shelters.
and the question still remains…. did this owner truly give up the dogs of her own volition or was she “intimidated” to do so????
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Those dogs are not dogs injuring and killing each other. There are nearly NO scars on the muzzles which is the first clue of fighting amoung dogs. The coats are shiny and healthy and none look to be underweight. As far as inbred, how is HSUS going to determine that, especially when they are mixes?
HSUS took dogs and dumped them. Surprise. If it was such a horrible situation the dogs would not have been in good conditions. Sounds like the owner gave up her dogs before they started getting in bad condition, but HSUS once again proved they couldn’t give a crap about the actual dogs. Again. Surprise.