Nov 09 2011
Responding to HSUS Dodges and Disinformation
[Note: Click here to download a PDF of this post]
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has come under criticism for its failure to support local pet shelters and local humane societies. A recent report by HumaneWatch, a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom, determined that HSUS gives less than one percent of its annual budget to local groups—totaling $527,000 over the last three years—despite raising more than $120 million annually.
In response, HSUS argues that it is unfair to hold it accountable for not supporting pet shelters, because that is not part of its mission. HSUS President Wayne Pacelle writes that HSUS’s mission is to tackle “the large-scale cruelties beyond the reach of local humane societies.”
That is an artful dodge. HSUS is fully aware that most Americans believe it is an umbrella organization representing the nation’s local hands-on pet shelters. Furthermore, HSUS openly exploits this misperception with advertisements and fundraising materials clearly intended to give the deceptive impression that a significant portion of HSUS’s activities support the direct care of homeless pets.
Consider the following:
1. Polling Proof of Misperception
A recent national poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation determined that 71 percent of Americans believe that the “Humane Society of the United States is an umbrella group that represents thousands of local humane societies all across America.” The same poll determined that 59 percent of Americans believe that HSUS “contributes most of its money to local organizations that care for dogs and cats.” The HSUS refuses to clearly indicate to donors that use of their contributions will not be aligned with donor intent.
2. Failure to Disclose
While HSUS never explicitly says that it financially supports local animal shelters, it also does not obviously disclose the fact that it does not fund local shelters. Instead, HSUS largely allows the clear and proven misperception to stand unaddressed.
At the same time, nowhere on HSUS’s website donation page or its fundraising material does it explicitly say that HSUS is not associated with local animal shelters. Even the page titled “Donations F.A.Q.” fails to disclose the fact that HSUS has no formal affiliation with local pet shelters. On HSUS’s “About Us: Direct Care” webpage, it writes: “The HSUS has stood as the nation's most important advocate for local humane societies.”
Astonishingly, on a webpage titled “Have a question?” HSUS dodges its own question:
How is The HSUS affiliated with my local humane society?
For more than a half century, The HSUS has stood as the nation's most important advocate for local humane societies. Additionally, The HSUS operates its own network of sanctuaries, providing care and homes to more animals than any other national animal protection organization in the United States.
For example, the Nevada Humane Society (an animal sheltering organization not affiliated with HSUS) attempted to rent HSUS’s mailing list for fundraising purposes. As a condition of that use, HSUS required the Nevada Humane Society remove a statement pointing out that it does not receive funding from “national groups” from their materials and any future mailings.
3. Many Local Shelters are Frustrated with HSUS
Recent news stories have quoted a variety of animal shelter professionals responding to HSUS’s failure to support local shelters. In a recent interview with News 12 New Jersey, Roseann Trezza, Executive Director of New Jersey’s Associated Humane Societies, commented: “We receive nothing from them. And the amount of money they get nationally and don’t share with needy shelters like ours is a shame.” Amanda Welby from the Seattle Humane Society told Fox Spokane that the misunderstanding between HSUS and local shelters is “a good source of confusion for a lot of our donors. […] We have had issues with people who would intend to name us in their will, but actually name the Humane Society of the United States.”
4. Citing Shelter Euthanasia Rates as a Reason to Support HSUS
In its fundraising materials and elsewhere, HSUS references the number of animals euthanized in local animal shelters each year as an important reason to support HSUS.
For instance, a fundraising video featuring actress Jenna Elfman explicitly cites the number of animals euthanized in local animal shelters each year as a primary reason to support HSUS. And in a recent fundraising letter, HSUS President Wayne Pacelle wrote:
“Over 4,000,000 loving pets are put to death each year ... local shelters try their best to save lives, but they are simply overwhelmed and need our help—YOURS AND MINE—TO HELP INCREASE ADOPTIONS.”
But, of course, HSUS does very little to actually help save animals from being euthanized. As any shelter veteran will acknowledge, preventing animals from being euthanized takes money to pay for food and boarding costs. No amount of “support” in the form of magazine subscriptions, training programs, or expensive shelter evaluations (offered by the HSUS for a fee) will keep animals from being put down.
5. Support HSUS to Support Local Shelters
In a recent fundraising mailing, HSUS provided a list of the top ten reasons to support HSUS. The top reason read:
Accompanying the list was a picture of a sullen-looking cat.
6. Deceptive Imagery of Puppies and Kittens
A recent review of HSUS’s fundraising videos determined that more than 85 percent of all of the animals used in them were either dogs or cats. The same holds true for much of its direct mail and email fundraising documents, which often feature photos of dog or cats inside cages or in animal shelters. In truth, the HSUS spends far more time on meat and egg issues.
7. HSUS Gives Shelters “Assistance”…For a Price
In its defense, HSUS provides a laundry list of things they do to assist local shelters. For instance, HSUS publishes Animal Sheltering magazine. They also provide training through Humane Society University, conduct shelter evaluations, and host conferences for shelter professionals.
They make no mention that all of these services come at a cost to shelters. They charge a subscription fee for Animal Sheltering magazine. A shelter evaluation reportedly costs up to $25,000—and that doesn’t cover the cost of implementing the evaluation’s suggested reforms. Humane Society University charges $1,050 for an undergraduate class and $1,350 for a graduate-level class. Even HSUS’s Animal Care Expo costs $250 for registration.
8. Rewriting its Founding Mission
HSUS defends its failure to substantially support local animal shelters, writing on its website that complaints amount to a willful disregard for HSUS’s “founding mission and long history ... This has never been our purpose and never been our claim. Our founders instead sought to attack all kinds of cruelty at its roots, wherever it was occurring.”
HSUS Special Policy Advisor and Assistant Treasurer Bernard Unti recently wrote in Protecting All Animals: A Fifty-year History of the Humane Society of the United States:
“The original bylaws of The HSUS provided for its ownership and operation of shelter facilities through established branches conceived as integral units of the parent organization. Such ownership proved to be impractical on several grounds, but it did not prevent The HSUS from becoming deeply involved with local animal shelters and their problems. Ultimately, it did so by establishing an affiliates program to forge closer ties to local societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals.”
Unti also noted in Protecting All Animals that until the early 1970s when John Hoyt became HSUS’s president, HSUS’s policy was to share most of its revenue with the state-level HSUS affiliates that worked on direct animal care. Unti wrote:
“Under long-standing arrangements, The HSUS designated 60 percent of all funds raised from members within the branch states for use by the chapters, with the national organization taking the rest.”
Wayne Pacelle recently challenged “gullible or sloppy” reporters to “do their homework.” We couldn’t agree more.
Posted on 11/09/2011 at 02:31 PM by the HumaneWatch Team
Announcements • Document Analysis • (33) CommentsComments
Why not mention that HSUS (and the rest of the AR activism organizations) actively OPPOSE no-kill sheltering, and that the most common policy, management and kill manuals in use in shelters are now written by HSUS.
Of course, they SELL these manuals at carriage trade prices, too.
In other words, HSUS and the rest of the AR activist machine are working harder to get more animals killed than saved.
I’m so very confused. I am called by the HSUS A Member in good standing. I’ve been giving to them for so long and had such great respect , I thought they were the one’s that were the top in investigating dog fighting and other huge atrocities against animals. that’s what I thought Humane Society of the United States ment. I really had no idea that they were suppose to support local shelters. I believed they were working on a larger skale however not in the egg and meat industry. They due however, in their commercial show a downed cow being pushed rolling over and over so why shouldn’t they be looking into those abused animals as well as our own furrybabies? I am one person who knows how expensive it is to come to a shelter and do a complete overhaul. I just learned today,actually from speaking to the president of the SPCA. 25,000.00 is a fair charge for the HSUS to charge for something like that wether it be a kill or no-kill shelter. I am an animal activist and belive in all NO-KILL SHELTERS but ai’d be kidding myself if I thought that they all were. That is something we all have to work for. Including the HSUS!!!!
Hi Lavene -
the biggest problem many of us have with HSUS is the deception, not to mention they are pushing for laws to do away with all animal “usage”, including the keeping of domestic pets such as dogs and cats, as companion animals. And I assume you know that HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle is supporting the most well known dog fighter of all, Michael Vick. Even after Vick was shown to have tortured dogs to death, Pacelle said he thought Vick would make a good dog owner. Hello? What is going on there?
Also, HSUS is opposed to no-kill sheltering. And why would HSUS fund raise using pictures of puppies and kittens in cages, yet not use that money to HELP shelters at no charge? People who give to the HSUS are under the mistaken impression their money goes to help those puppies and kittens in the ads, not that the HSUS charges money the very shelters who house them.
The whole thing is a bloated, deceptive organization and I can’t wait to see it topple from the corruption from within. There are real animal WELFARE activists who can then step in and use the resources that formerly were sucked into the HSUS to actually help animals!
What a despicable human being and I am sickened and outraged and made a committment to inform as many people as possible.
HSUS was the Driving Force behind adding 4 species of Constrictor Snakes to the Lacey Act, effectively making it a felony for breeders, owners and enthusiasts to transport snakes over state lines, even if they are moving. They claim this was to help the Burmese Python problem in the everglades, which has been grossly over-exaggerated. They cited “Irresponsible Owners” as the cause, ignoring the fact that these snakes have been in the everglades for 20 years and DNA tests have proved that 98% of them descended from snakes released from two breeding facilities during Hurricane Andrew. And of the four placed on the Lacey Act, only 1 has formed a feral population, and non of the snakes listed could even exist in the united states outside the most southern tip of Florida.
The State of Florida had already placed regulations on ownership of these snakes, requiring permits and microchipping with fines and possible jail time if your snake was found in wild areas. But HSUS decided to make this a national issue by punishing the Herp community, and effectively removing $1.3 Million annually out of the American Economy.
No one is denying that there is a feral population of Burmese Pythons in the everglades and that they need to be eradicated for the sake of the natural ecosystem, but using your anti-pet agenda, and fear mongering to strip hard-working and responsible of Americans of their rights is just wrong.
You can fool some of the people some of the time. You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you CANNOT fool all of the people all of the time. HSUS, you have been exposed for what you really are. Thank you Humane Watch for exposing them in a truthful manner!!!!! Will be sending you a donation and encouraging my dog friends to do the same.
This is a masterful example of effective rebuttal. If you can use the HSUS’s own published words against them, you have accomplished something very important. I hope that more people like Lavene Clark will eventually awaken to this incredible scam on Americans and back away from support for HSUS. Animal issues, like politics, are local. The most effective advocacy for animals comes from within the community where the issues affect the people involved. If we all were to compare animal legislation and regulations - those that are always proposed as “the only way” to fight cruelty, neglect and other crimes against animals - we would find almost exactly the SAME LANGUAGE included, from Alaska to Florida. The reason for this is that HSUS has written these laws, and they count on the fact that people don’t routinely examine what is going on outside of their own communities. This is beginning to change, thanks in large part to HumaneWatch. You guys are the greatest!
So, Lavene, how about taking your kindness, your passion and your pocketbook to your local animal advocacy groups, volunteer for your local shelter, call your friends and family and tell them how you have been made aware of the truth. Don’t be embarrassed, you will be in good company. HumaneWatch has had a positive influence in the sheltering community, and will continue. Wayne Pacelle can’t dig any faster, he is over his head. His own words are burying him. How can anyone NOT see that “the emperor has no clothes”?
Lavene- As a former kennel manager for my local shelter, and as a veterinary technician, a rescuer, and a dog show exhibitor for over 25 years, let me un-confuse you. 
The HSUS has veered from it’s original mission of animal welfare to its current agenda of ending ALL human/animal relationships. As a child, I frequently gave my allowances and later my babysitting money to the HSUS under the impression that they’d share that money with pets who were severely injured, abused, or starved. In turn, they’d send me magazines with horrible photos of severely abused animals, always dogs or cats, inspiring me to send even MORE money.
Then, as a young adult, I started to volunteer for my local shelter, which led to a paid position, and eventually to managing the shelter’s kennel. Early in my volunteering, I asked the then-kennel manager, “Why don’t we ask the HSUS to help us pay for the new kennel fence in the exercise yard we need so the dogs get a chance to run again?” after the fence was ruined by a fallen tree. She laughed in my face. I was totally bewildered. She took me inside and gave me the pamphlet of “services” the HSUS offered to shelters, and there, in black and white, was the huge fees I never knew they charged to “help” shelters “improve”. Books on shelter designs cost a hundred dollars, and this was in the late 80’s-early 90’s. The shelter evaluation was ‘only’ $20,000 then. They even charged for the trade magazine they put out. I was outraged. I asked, “Well how much do we get from the fundraisers they hold?” The answer, as you know by now, was “Nothing”.
I know now, from viewing the H$U$‘s own tax returns myself, that they use VERY little money to do ANYthing for animals, and a lot of that is what I consider ‘hush money’, like the shelter they are paying for in LA when it came out that the H$U$ collected MILLIONS of dollars for Hurricane Katrina relief, but never DID anything significantly helpful there.
I also was one of the people who SAW with my OWN eyes the page H$U$ had crafted, asking for money to “save” Michael Vick’s dogs, even though their recommendation was they ALL be killed, even newborn puppies, AND the H$U$ NEVER had in its possession even ONE of the dogs. When they were called on it, they took the page down, and again, brushed the whole thing under the rug, and are now SUPPORTING the dog-killer as if he’s some hero.
I have seen with my own eyes the H$U$ come in and ‘raid’ a so-called ‘puppymill’, with their swat-wannabe gear and their glitzy media shill for the cameras. Guess where EVERY DINGLE ONE of those dogs wound up? Yep. In MY shelter, and other local shelters and groups. Guess WHO paid to treat and rehabilitate the dogs when the H$U$ split the minute the cameras and lights faded? Yep. The same local shelters and rescues.
Shall we mention the recent case of the H$U$ participation in seizing 100 horses? http://www.bkglawfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DOC_20120227_ParkinsonPlea.pdf
If you want to make a difference for animals, whether it be domestic pets, livestock, or wild creatures we share our world with, do so on a local level, and be sure you go visit the place and animals you are looking to ‘help’. Sometimes what you have been told and shown isn’t reality. You cannot judge until you have seen BOTH sides of an issue, and if you can’t judge it, how can you effectively defend or deny it?
And just remember, H$U$ doesn’t even want you to have contact with animals.
When asked if he envisioned a future without pets, “If I had my personal view, perhaps that
might take hold. In fact, I don’t want to see another dog or cat born.” Wayne Pacelle quoted in
Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 266.
“I don’t have a hands-on fondness for animals…To this day I don’t feel bonded to any nonhuman animal. I like them and I pet them and I’m kind to them, but there’s no special bond
between me and other animals.” Wayne Pacelle quoted in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the
Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 251.
We have no problem with the extinction of
domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.” Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP of
Humane Society of the US, formerly of Friends of Animals and Fund for Animals, Animal
People, May, 1993
Is there any hope to have this ad run during Fox & Friends on the Fox News Channel? I have complained so many times about the HSUS ad that runs. They take it down and then it resurfaces.
I think they should run it for free as a PSA due to the fradulent HSUS ads they have run.
Glad that someone is finally exposing the HSUS for what it is. Or isn’t. It’s so much better to support your local shelters or shelters that you KNOW are actually helping animals.
@ Lavene Clark - You are meant to be confused. The more confusion, the harder it is to fight the AR agenda.
They don’t *investigate* animal abuse, so much as they create it. They demonize *all* traditional animal husbandry practises by claiming those practises are abusive, for starters. They code these false beliefs into the laws they lobby for and often get enacted.
Their laws are so vague and confusing that often even attorneys can’t figure out what they mean. They raid dog breeders and farmers and accuse them of long laundry lists of abuse, but often when it comes to indictments, the prosecutors can’t find valid reasons to indict, or the cases are thrown out of court. Of course, the animals are long gone by this time, dead or relocated all over the country. I am only aware of one case where the accused owner actually got her animals back, and in that case, one of them had been blinded in one eye under HSUS care.
You rarely hear anything about these cases, after the media cameras have stopped rolling and HSUS has dumped their ‘rescues’ at an underfunded local shelter where the kill rate is generally over 50%. Most of these animals go to much worse environments than those they were seized from.
Shelters are underfunded because HSUS is getting the funding, and misusing it for their own purposes, which are not yours.
Accusations don’t mean much. There are very few convictions, though due to the intimidation tactics and lies of those who conduct the raids as well as punitive fines and board bills there are owners who do plead. Many animal owners just can’t afford to fight - particularly those whose animals have been seized under laws which also freeze *all* the owners’ assets, and there are more than enough of those to go around.
AR laws result in many more healthy animals being killed than is necessary by any sane standard, not to mention abuse of personal property and constitutional rights of animal owners.
Oh ... that downer cow? There must have been at least one downer cow somewhere, at some time, treated this way, and that poor cow has been exploited by HSUS to emotionally blackmail you and others who see it. That picture is intended to make you believe that there are a LOT of downer cows, and that all of them are treated this way. Any time they can discover a case of animal abuse, it is used to make the public believe that abuse is the norm, not the anomaly. That is very far from reality. It is a lie.
Almost every jurisdiction in this country has adequate laws against the abuse and neglect of animals. HSUS doesn’t want you to believe that, because they want you to pass laws which further their agenda, which is an animal free life for everyone.
Is this really what you want?
@ Songbrook - What good news ... but .. what happened to the rest of them? 60 horses returned is less than half her string. Where are the other 73? Put down? Gelded and sold?
Still ... very good news, on the whole.
One thing that I find infuriating is this new perception that the new healthy is *fat*. I am hunting a new vet, as mine has hired an AR shill who has pronounced two of my (intact)hound bitches as ‘thin and underfed’, though one was actually a little overweight for her breed and height. The other just doesn’t carry any fat period, and I’d rather see her a shade thin than fat. Pet vets see so many obese s/n pets they no longer recognize healthy weights, and certainly the public is indoctrinated to believe that any animal not rolling fat is ‘starved and emaciated’.
Horse breeders, particularly those who are working with the lighter breeds, are horribly vulnerable to these accusations.
Have you seen this?
“Our goal is to make [the public think of] breeding [dogs and cats] like drunk driving and smoking.” Kim Sturla, former director of the Peninsula Humane Society and Western Director of Fund for Animals, stated during Kill the Crisis, not the Animals campaign and workshops, 1991
That goal has been fully realized in the US, I believe.
I’m waiting for them to go after the dairy industry on these grounds. Have you ever seen a *fat* dairy cow or goat? Actually, a couple in WA state recently lost ALL their animals to the AR activists, and one of the allegations was that their cow had died. Somehow, the fact that the local AC officer had demanded that they put feed in front of her 24/7, whereupon she promptly bloated and died was overlooked.
The other material allegation was that they didn’t have enough feed stockpiled ... their contention that the feed store was only a couple of miles up the road, and that they bought feed several times a week was rejected.
How much feed do *you* stockpile for your stock?
We are ALL vulnerable, if we own any animals at all.
Lynn- I don’t know what happened to the rest of the horses either, unfortunately, but my guess is that they were scattered so far away that they couldn’t easily be returned.
I heartily agree that the new ‘normal’ for pets is too fat.
In my state, our cruelty officers have to take a workshop offered, thankfully, but the state Dept. of Agriculture on how to recognize normal dairy characteristics vs. emaciation, among other things before they can be sworn in. I am very fortunate that I have known many of the local cruelty officers through my employment for quite some time, and even helped coach the latest one in his studies in livestock. Unfortunately, I don’t know ALL of them on as personal a level, and a few seem to have been fed the AR KoolAid.
That’s horrible about the WA couple. Is there a link available where we can support the animal owners and explain to the local legal officials that allowing some animals 24/7 access to food KILLS them?
I never saw the Sturla quote before, but yeah, I think they’ve achieved it. I swear, when I’m out with one of my dogs, I spend more time educating people than I do actually enjoying time with my dogs. I do it because it NEEDS to be done but boy, is it getting OLD!
In reading Lavene’s letter it occurs to me that she is a perfect example of the person who is victimized by HSUS. She is totally won over by their tactics to the point of not being able to see through the scam even when good evidence is presented to her. When you are shown or told something 13 times it becomes your reality which has been proven by science. The campaign to get us to use seat belts has used it for years to promote a valuable lesson. Leave it to people like Wayne Pacelle to use it for nefarious gain. We owe it to those who can so easily be victimized to work even harder to protect a way of life that can slip away before we know it. I don’t want to live in a world populated with only people like Wayne and Lavene. As much as I love my 4 dogs and 3 cats (all of them rescues), there is a lot more at stake here than my warm fuzzies.
The thought of having animal control/cruelty officers coming on your property and telling you how to care for your animals is just downright terrifying when you realize these people don’t know how to care for animals!
Having such an idiot tell you that you must have food in front of an animal at all times is insane. Most animals will overeat. As above, grazing animals will eat ‘til they bloat and die. But, if you don’t do what they say, they will charge you with a cruelty to animals crime and sieze your animals. Just insane.
I quit taking my dogs to public places because I just couldn’t enjoy my dogs with all the people asking questions and wanting to pet them. I’m kinda hard-nosed about it. If you want to pet a dog, get your own dog and keep your hands off mine. You don’t deserve to pet my dog. I put a lot of time, effort and money into my dogs. They are my dogs. I see flickerings of animal cruelty charges based on not ‘socializing’ dogs coming down the pike. These people think they have the right to pet your dog. NO they don’t. So, they’ll make it a crime to not socialize.
I suggest changing the image which accompanies this if you hit Share in FB. I started to Share, but canceled it. Why? The image that shows up (which is what will be seen in News Feed on FB- by countless people scrolling quickly) “Ten Reasons to Renew Your Membership in the HSUS Today.” Anyone who doesn’t get why this is a bad fumble is blissfully ignorant of studies revealing America’s (sad) 8-second attention span.
This piece is a gold mine of truth. The deceptive mailer statement by HSUS should NOT be what is the eye-catcher.
@Kaylor - You are so right. These days, if your dog isn’t an extroverted all people lover, you (and he) are at risk. If some ignorant idiot bends down to kiss his face and he snaps at them, his life is at risk - as recently happened to a newscaster who ‘loves’ dogs.
We have a bitch who won’t be handled by people she doesn’t know. She’s actually very well socialized, in the sense that she can be taken anywhere, isn’t afraid of loud noises or strange sights or surfaces - you can walk her right up to someone using air tools and she doesn’t bat an eye - but she won’t be handled by a stranger. Wouldn’t as a puppy.
And why should she? We didn’t raise her to be *everybody’s* dog, we raised her to be *our* dog. It’s just the kind of temperment she has. She’s not mean in any way, but she takes her time where trusting people is concerned. She should be allowed that. Dogs are individuals, not cookie cutter clones of some cartoon animal. They are entitled to respect as the individuals they are. We have four, and each is different - we have a roaring extrovert who will go to anyone, one who is reserved but likes to be petted, and two who don’t care to be handled by strangers. As we raised them all, it’s not the handling. They are all DIFFERENT.
It is interesting that the AR ‘experts’ who keep telling us that animals are individuals and have feelings are the ones who treat animals like objects and expect them all to behave like some fantasy animal they have created in their minds. This amounts to setting a standard for animal behaviour that only a few can meet - and gives them the excuse to kill those that don’t measure up.
Worse yet, they have led the public to see animals this way. That’s dangerous for the people (and particularly children) and also for the animals.
When I was a child, we were taught not to run up and grab strange animals, as well as other cross species courtesies. That doesn’t seem to happen any more. Even adults behave recklessly around animals.
We seriously need a lot of re-education on the animal front.
@ Gayla T - Yes, that’s exactly it. I don’t want to live that way either, but it’s difficult to change it. People who have been drinking the KoolAid get defensive and even hostile when you try to explain what is happening - apart from the fact that they *do* know they love animals, and believe that they know *about* them, no one likes to be duped.
We have been painted into an ugly, dangerous corner by the AR activists.
The ultimate outrage that animal lovers’ money is being used to deprive them - us - of our animal companions and hobbies. But as you say, that’s not really the worst of it. Our healthy diets are at risk too.
It’s criminal, in fact.
@ Songbrook - Sorry not to have told more of the story, but the prosecutor dropped all charges. Of course, their animals are gone - s/n, gelded, placed. Hopefully they will be able to sue, but with their livelihood gone, it’s hard to say whether they will be able to find an attorney willing to act for them.
Here is a link with a link to pix of the terribly abused and starved animals - which all look to be in good shape. They lost some nice stock, by the looks of it.
http://justice4pnw.weebly.com/
They’re in good company, of course. It’s been a long time since I saw a case of ‘abuse’ where the animals actually appeared to have been badly treated or neglected. And there have been a lot of cases. Texas in particular has been under siege the last year or two.
Thx Lynn….we do need to educate more people.
I found myself spending all my time educating idiots with no time left to work with, train and enjoy my dogs. So, I just quit taking them out where they would be exposed to such idiots.
I trained and trialed amongst a training and trialing group of people.
It is a pity that it has become so difficult to own pets. People do seem extremely hungry for pets. Whenever I would go to a park I would simply be mobbed by people and children wanting to ‘meet’ the dogs, pet them, throw frisbees for them. Whatever we were doing, somebody wanted to know all the details. That usually meant I had to stop what I was doing to explain. So much for training in new places. So sorry people can’t find a way to learn how to keep their own pets.
Texas has simply been overrun by ASPCA types that have taken over animal control, particularly Dallas and are wetting the example for the rest of the state. Its a real sorry deal.
I don’t know if their state legislators have term limits or not. Almost seems like they would.
Here, in Michigan, our legislators do have term limits. We just get one bunch educated enough to stand up to HSUS lobbyists and then they are gone and a new bunch of idiots take office. They drink the HSUS koolaid all too willingly. The talk sounds good, everybody loves anything that is ‘humane’, right? lol
South Dakota just slapped their faces pretty good.
“WE” have to educate these new legislators just as soon as they are sworn in. Don’t let the dust settle, cuz HSUS has lobbyists in every state.
@ Kaylor - Right again. None of this could happen, if there were even half the number of animal abusers out there that the AR activists claim. It’s *because* everyone loves animals and no one wants to see them abused that we are in this mess.
It’s emotional blackmail on the activists’ part - ‘if you don’t support us, you support animal abuse’ and the subtext is ‘you are an animal abuser’. Who wants to accept those characterizations?
But then, their base position is that animal ownership IS animal abuse, which is something that people have a hard time getting their heads around.
It’s a challenge. Sadly, the few of us who don’t drink the KoolAid can only reach a few people at a time, and we only get through to a few of those. We have to keep at it, but HW is the best thing to happen to animals in forty years.
For those who disbelieve that HW has the goods on the AR movement: Consider that if what they say were ‘lies’ - as many have contended - they’d have gone down under lawsuits many long months ago. HSUS knows how to use the legal system to squash opposition, and they have 30+ attorneys *on staff*. Since HW gets it right, they can’t bury them in lawsuits. Believe it - they would sue them for libel if they could.
So .. if you are among those who doubt HW’s position - give that a think.
We have to be very careful confusing the HSUS, the ASPCA, and PETA. They all bring in huge amounts in donations, but where that money goes and what the money does is vastly different. It shouldn’t be hard to get some information about each from tax returns? I know many people that give to each believing heavily that their money goes where the advertising tells them. As far as I know the ASPCA is the only organization that much of its money actually reaches and helps animals of all types. It is important to give so giving to your local shelter and a breed rescue group in your area or state is the way to get the money directly to the animals. The majority of these non-for-profits work using many volunteers.
@ Simon Marco - The ASPCA has one (1) shelter in NYC. That shelter is a kill shelter. They shill for money all over the country, and play the same seizure games as HSUS does. Look at what they’ve been doing in Texas. They are now heavily targeting smaller rescues, along with breeders and anyone else the anonymous tip line fingers.
As the rest of the AR organizations do, they actively OPPOSE no-kill sheltering, which does NOT mean ‘animals locked in tiny cages all their lives’. No-kill sheltering means finding homes for all *adoptable* animals; those with unsafe temperments, terminal illness or injuries being humanely euthanized. It does not mean euthanizing animals for trivial reasons such as: too old, too young, sniffles, and other flimsy excuses used by kill shelters.
However, you are certainly right about donating locally. That’s the only way to get funding to your local shelters, and the only way to fund no-kill shelters. No AR organization funds hands on animal care.
And ASPCA, along with HSUS and PeTA is an animal *rights* group, not an animal welfare group. Animal *rights* means no animal ownership or use whatever. To the AR activists, animal ownership IS animal abuse.
There is plenty of confusion to go around. The only way to make sure is to contribute to your local shelters and know what they are doing with your contribution.
Some of what these organizations do may be different, but I’m not so sure they are anything but three peas in a pod. HSUS, ASPCA and PETA.
I believe (please correct me if I am wrong) it is the ASPCA that has had a lot to do with Dallas, TX and the absolutely horrid things they have been doing there. Well, all of Texas now as they have passed an absurb so called “Breeder bill” that will attempt to wipe out dogs/cats/others from the state of Texas.
Nope…...can’t support any of those national organizations. NO WAY ...........too much evil has happened in the name of “Humane” “PREVENTION OF CRUELTY” and “ETHICAL”
@ Kaylor - Yes, ASPCA has been up to a lot of no good in TX. They have also been angling to be given police powers in at least one state, but I’m not sure which - possibly PA, but someone else may know.
Like HSUS, they don’t support shelters. They have one (1) shelter in NYC, and it is a kill shelter.
I don’t understand how people can see these organizations which are so supportive of killing animals as protective of them. If they really care, why aren’t they going after some of the public shelters whose kill rates are *over* 75%? Why are they so uncaring of the animals they consign to these shelters, and to temporary holding areas staffed by willing but often ignorant volunteers?
HSUS dumped Denisa Malott’s horses in a lot with no feed on it, it’s only source of water a stinking, stagnant pond. It was also far too small for the number of horses they dumped there, and no allowances were made for horses that did not get along together. In the end, Ms Malott did get her horses back, and was fortunate that only one of them was injured; one was blinded in one eye. Ms Malott is sueing under AETA, but that won’t heal the blinded horse. You can hear the whole sorry story here:
Kim Houlding DVM 21:00
Dave Duquette at 30:00
Denisa Malott at 35:11
Karen Budd Fallon 53:53 (attorney on property rights)
All these speakers are very interesting, but Dave Duquette and Denisa Malott are don’t miss segments. If you prefer just to read, here is a link to the whole story - before the lawsuit:
http://issuu.com/manecon1/docs/june-july/1?mode=a_p
But people persist in believing that these AR organizations actually care about animals.
WHY?
Because they have words like “Humane” “PREVENTION OF CRUELTY” and “ETHICAL” in the names of their organization.
I do believe there was a time when those words actually meant what they said.
That was a long time ago.
@ Simon Marco - Sorry, I got a little OT there. We do know where the money goes. After overheads, of course.
The money you give to HSUS goes to lobbying for laws which limit animal ownership, which overregulate pet breeding and livestock agriculture. Smaller portions go to running seminars for law students, to show them how to use these laws against animal owners, and as donations to vet schools to make sure vets are indoctrinated in the AR dogma. They also spend on marketing, not only for fund raising, but for the production of abuse videos - inserting AR moles into agricultural operations, often for months at a time, for the purpose of creating the impression that animals are abused. They have a seizure division, equipped and staffed for raids and seizures. They have 30 plus attorneys on staff, writing boilerplate AR laws and seeking out potential legal victims. They use outside counsel to fight the various lawsuits they are engaged in; a RICO suit brought by Feld Entertainment (the circus), and various AETA suits brought by breeders and farmers.
ASPCA seems to concentrate on seizure equipment and personnel, in the interest of removing as many animals as possible from breeders, rescuers and exotics owners as possible. Unlike the others, they do operate one shelter, which is a kill shelter.
PeTA spends on marketing the vegan lifestyle, and AR dogma, not only in the media but also, like HSUS, in the production of abuse materials. They also have equipment for the collection of pets for extermination. Like HSUS, they operate no shelter at all.
All have legal budgets, HSUS as described above, the others for defense of their own employees, and in some cases, other AR activists.
All of them produce materials to distribute to children, to indoctrinate them well before they are mature enough to consider the reality of animal husbandry.
HSUS has by far the biggest budget, and is the most dangerous because they have successfully corrupted the legislative and legal systems to gain their own ends.
OT again - all of them righteously deny funding any animal terrorism (though the AR laws they have passed should probably be considered terrorism in itself, given the way it is used), but as animal terrorists never seem to have a problem funding a defense, it seems likely that some or all of them do at least fund such defenses. Ingrid Newkirk in particular has expressed a back handed kind of support for violence in support of the AR agenda:
“I will be the last person to condemn ALF [the Animal Liberation Front].” Ingrid Newkirk, PeTA’s president and founder, The New York Daily News, December 7, 1997
“A burning building doesn’t help melt people’s hearts, but times change and tactics, I’m sure, have to change with them. If you choose to carry out ALF-style actions, I ask you to please not say more than you need to, to think carefully who you trust, to learn all you can about how to behave if arrested, and so to try to live to fight another day.” Ingrid Newkirk, PeTA’s founder and president, Interview in ALF quarterly Bite Back, February, 2003
There’s plenty more from all the AR organizations spokespersons - check them out at:
Hi HW -
“Based on his investigation, Kovich made the following determination:
The findings of this site visit support the assertion that PETA does not operate a facility that meets the statutory definition of an animal shelter as the primary purpose is not to find permanent adoptive homes for animals.
PETA’s lawyer responded to VDACS arguing that a legal technicality protected their status as an animal shelter.”
Would you seriously call that a ‘shelter’? Doesn’t sound like it’s available to the public, does it? I’d say more complaints are in order, preferably to the Feds who have oversight over NPOs.
They do, of course, have that walk-in freezer .. which, as I understand it, appears on one of their filings.
AETA .. Denisa Malott has filed suit under AETA (I thought you’d reported that yourselves). I’m not sure how Dan Christensen is filing, but I think AlphaTex kennels may be filing under AETA.
There are plenty of candidates. I’m not sure how you track those filings, but I’d think you guys would have the resources, no? Would be interesting to know, wouldn’t it?
I’ll try to find out ... but I hope you will too. Would make a good article, I’d think.
Lynn stated some ways back “One thing that I find infuriating is this new perception that the new healthy is *fat*. I am hunting a new vet, as mine has hired an AR shill who has pronounced two of my (intact)hound bitches as ‘thin and underfed’,”
Inexcusable, when you consider how canine health, like human health is compromised by carrying too much weight. My 9 year old sheltie has bladder cancer. One of the risk factors is being overweight, which is something we have fought with this poor dog for years. No matter what we feed her, or how we exercise her, she is just a tub. She looks like shmoo when she sits.
But I would hate to have some AR group interfering, and wrongly assuming I was overfeeding her, or under exercising her, which is what these groups do.
@ Ann-Marie - You are so right. Since I posted, I have discovered that my old vet has probably sold out to the AR shill, who has also been participating in County seizures. That is, at the least, a clear conflict of interest.
I have found a vet who doesn’t characterize normal weight dogs as ‘thin and underfed’, and in fact commented that my big dog ‘looks good’, but that is small consolation, since OR has just given the HS police powers for the state. Watch for this in your own state - these organizations have been trying to get police powers for years now, and having accomplished that in Oregon, will be working hard to spread the wealth.
Though we have made some small progress, we are still losing ground. Small progress means that in at least some cases, the courts have demanded that the animals be returned to the owners. Unfortunately, since the animals have long been dispersed all over the country by rescues, only some of the animals make it home. And many of those have been sterilized, which means they are still ‘lost’ to the owners, who cannot continue those bloodlines. This has been true for both horse and dog owners.
However, the fact that a judge has ordered *any* animals returned is progress of a sort.
We need much more progress than this.
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I was under the impression from all of the donations that we have made that it is helping “SAVE THE ANIMALS VS LET THEM DIE”. YOU GO TO RODEO’S MAKING SURE THAT THE ANIMALS ARE NOT ABUSED BUT LET THE OTHER INNOCENT ONES DIE?”, how convenient.
After reading this there will be no more money sent to you I will support my local shelters.