Jul 14 2011
Shameless
Have you seen the Humane Society of the United States’ latest fundraising appeal in its never-ending flood of “asks”? HSUS is begging for an “emergency gift” to help its animal rescue team “stay in the field.” HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle lays it on thick, writing, “we don’t want to ever say ‘no’ because we do not have the resources.”
Right. That’s like Donald Trump begging for advertisers to help him keep Celebrity Apprentice on the air.
We’d wager that most critics of HSUS (including us) don’t have a problem with its animal-rescue arm — as long as it operates legally. It’s certainly not a bad thing to have a team of volunteers that can help out in the aftermath of a natural disaster. And this provides HSUS with the opportunity to provide hands-on care for animals, which is what a “humane society” ought to be doing.
But it seems HSUS’s own leadership is giving this worthwhile sliver of the organization the short end of the money stick. Pacelle blogged this week about the need for an “emergency gift,” but HSUS’s 2010 annual report (released just three weeks ago) shows that HSUS had a whopping $205 million in net assets as of last December 31, a 7-percent increase from the previous year.
Are we really supposed to believe that HSUS’s animal rescue team might run out of money? Wayne Pacelle must think “HSUS constituent” falls under “gullible” in the dictionary.
If HSUS needs some money, we have a couple of suggestions for a little in-house budgetary shuffling:
- Pensions. HSUS put $2.5 million into its pension plan in 2009, bringing the total since 2004 to more than $11 million. The idea of “charity” ought to mean that animal rescue should come before executives’ retirement plans.
- Lobbying. HSUS spent $17.3 million lobbying between 2005 and 2009. Can’t it cut back on the anti-animal-agriculture agenda just a bit? Since HSUS halted its ballot campaigns in Oregon and Washington last week, it should have hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, that it can funnel from its campaign coffers to its animal rescue team.
- Lawyers. HSUS has 30 lawyers on staff. Thirty. Can’t it trim back the legal-brief shenanigans and focus on direct care of animals instead of multi-year lawsuits?
This is a good opportunity for HSUS to gain some credibility. (After all, its shocking snubs of hands-on pet shelters aren’t giving it any.) It’s sad that HSUS’s first instinct is just to raise more money from Americans who, unlike HSUS, may not be doing well in the current economy.
Posted on 07/14/2011 at 11:47 AM by the HumaneWatch Team
The Best of HumaneWatch • Fundraising & Money • (9) CommentsComments
It would be nice if they’d use the money to save animals that really need it. But they aren’t. They use photos from past rescue ops in news for current rescue ops if the animals are not in poor enough condition for them to tug at the heart strings. They use photos that are from ASPCA rescue ops. And no breeder is safe. They take healthy, happy, well-cared-for dogs from legitimate show breeders.
They don’t spend the money they collect for natural disasters to help pets either. If you want to donate, donate to the AKC Companion Animal Recovery Canine Support and Relief Fund. They use all their dollars to send much needed supplies to disaster areas. No one knows it, but they were on the ground after Katrina hit. You didn’t see them in the news, but they were there. And it wasn’t to raise money. They were spending the money they’d received to help the animals that needed it while HSUS reps were going from sight to sight, following the news cameras.
HSUS is asking for $$ for its emergency team. Their team was there when the puppy mill was ‘busted’ in NC but all of the rescued animals went to local shelters and they didn’t get any money from HSUS to help with the processing of these dogs!
Doesn’t all that seem to be proof positive that they are not in the business of ‘helping’ animals?
The reality is that they are an animal RIGHTS organization, and their true goals are to liberate animals from slavery to humans. If that seems extreme, all I can say is don’t kill the messenger - THEY are the extremists!
They lobby for laws which severely LIMIT animal ownership, and how does that help animals? They also actively OPPOSE no-kill sheltering.
They are an animal RIGHTS group, and do not support animal welfare.
“We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding ...One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.”
Wayne Pacelle — Animal People News, May 1993
Animal *rights* activists believe in the premise that animal ownership = animal abuse. It seems to me that most of the animal *abuse* is being committed by the AR activists, enthusiastically supported by shelters.
Let’s quit supporting this. Let’s support our local shelters directly, and give preference to no-kill shelters. Then we WILL be helping the animals.
This is disgusting
Here are 1,000 animals in the process of euthaniasia… where are they to help???
Cindy Marabito
, American Pit Bull Examiner
July 14, 2011
The Riverside shelter outside Los Angeles is forced to euthanize 1000 animals. Starting yesterday, dogs and cats are being put to sleep.
Local rescue groups are reaching out and begging for help to save lives.
What is happening in the country that so many animals are senselessly being destroyed? This qualifies as a state of emergency. Something needs to happen. How any anyone look at the defenseless animals in the photo and not try to help?
Please call Sue Zucker (951-232-7727) at the Riverside Shelter if a rescue group can help by saving even one life.
Riverside Count Shelter located at 6851 Van Buren Boulevard, Riverside, CA 92504
Animals are dying at this very minute and this shelter is asking for help.
‘Remember the boy who cried wolf????? There’s a good visual in that…
Huge respect for Therese. She nailed the situation.
30 Lawyers? That has got to be a misprint!
Lawyers require big bucks and filing fees for lots of lawsuits.
Some lawsuits may have some validity - but that is way much for a legal team - not even major corporations have that many.
Where are they with this euthanizing going on with the Riverside animals?
Oh, thats right, did he really say that in an interview - he would have no problem eith the extincition of domestic animals?
A lot of people have gotten into the rights/welfare of animals only because we were motivated by the love of our pets.
@ Cindy Marabito - A substantial percentage of the dogs being euthanized are being killed as a direct result of HSUS legislative efforts and other actions.
Their standard policy on all dogs confiscated on dog fighting accusations is to kill them all. Sometimes breed rescues have been able to pry the dogs loose and rehab them - usually successfully - but sometimes not.
They regularly dump their ‘rescues’ into underfunded local kill shelters, which often have high kill rates even before the new influx arrives.
Their idea of saving the animals is to kill them more often than not. Their position is that animal ownership = animal abuse. A dead animal can’t be further abused. The higher the kill rates can be driven by B.A.D. legislation the better, from their point of view.
“We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding ...One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.”
Wayne Pacelle — Animal People News, May 1993
Dogs are domestic animals. Mr Pacelle was serious in 1993, and his position hasn’t changed.
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If folks actually understood what happens to the animals that HSUS seizes they would be even more angry about this transparent bid to fill the HSUS lobbying coffers.
HSUS is in the business of seizing animals in concert with local legal entities. Once those animals are seized by HSUS, they are photographed in the presence of HSUS-Tshirt clad personnel for future fundraising pushes. They are held for only as long as it takes HSUS to line up places to put them, and then the animals are delivered to various rescues and shelters - who rarely get a dime from HSUS for the animal’s care.
In a well documented case this year, the HSUS knowingly dropped animals off at high-kill shelters who still use a gas chamber to kill excess pets. It was confirmed by Shirley at YesBiscuit! that 4 otherwise adoptable dogs were gassed to death 4 days after the HSUS dropped them off and over a dozen dogs were never seen in the adoption photos at another shelter - they seem to have vanished off the face of the earth. Were those healthy and adoptable dogs also gassed days after HSUS “rescued” them?
It costs a lot less to seize an animal and dump the animals on underfunded shelters than it does to offer long term care. So where is all the HSUS money going (I ask rhetorically).