Dec 16 2010
Wayne’s Weasel Words
Yesterday, we saw something that doesn’t happen very often. It’s more than HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle just telling reporters that he thinks Vick “would do a good job as a pet owner.” Pacelle, who tries so desperately (and often successfully) to hide the fact that his moral compass is far outside the mainstream, slipped up and told the truth. And Americans—including countless animal lovers who are accustomed to siding with HSUS—reacted with visceral anger and disgust.
It took Pacelle less than 18 hours to begin backtracking. (Donors are upset, after all.) On his blog this morning, he (or his ghost-writer) attempted to perform major damage-control. Wayne now says “it could be a good thing for Michael Vick’s family to have a pet.”
But that’s not what he said yesterday. Wayne told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Vick (not Vick’s family) “would do a good job as a pet owner.” He wasn’t misquoted. He is, however, trying to diminish the significance of his gaffe by claiming the newspaper asked him a “simple ‘yes-no’ question.” (There’s nothing unusual, of course, about reporters asking simple yes-no questions. What’s unusual is that Pacelle answered one.)
Will Wayne’s blog be enough to quell the firestorm? Time will tell. But it yesterday’s reactions on Facebook (HSUS’s Facebook page, not ours) are any indication, HSUS members will be barking mad at Pacelle for a long, long time.
These are actual quotes from HSUS’s Facebook wall. We’ve removed last names out of respect for the commenters’ privacy:
- Michelle: “Wow, you have definitely lost a supporter in myself and every other dog lover by supporting Michael Vick getting a dog. It’s amazing what money can make people do.”
- Heather: “WHY DO YOU THINK MICHAEL VICK SHOULD GET A DOG?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!?! And PLEASE stop sending me address labels. I am done supporting you.”
- Kathy: “What is the matter with you?? Would you place a child with a pedophile?? I won't be sending another dime to HSUS until Pacelle is given the boot from this organization!”
- Jessica: “Can someone please explain to me why the President of the HSUS would ever back Michael Vick? He is quoting saying mike Vick would make a good dog owner. I guess everyone has their price!”
- Tina: “Wayne Pacelle supports Michael Vick owning a dog?? I wonder if he eats Smithfield ham.”
- Rodella: “You have lost my support as well.”
- Elizabeth: “You have lost a supporter in me Wayne Pacelle.”
- Amber: “Wow, I have never been so disturbingly sick to my stomach and outraged at the HSUS!!!! Do you realize what you just did?”
- Kelly Smith Johnson: “Money truly does talk and it's speaking loud and clear to the HSUS. Appalling.”
- Jane: “Shame on Pacelle for supporting Michael Vick! Anyone who encourages or enables Vick to get a pet should be jailed for ‘aiding & abetting a known criminal’.”
- Elizabeth: “Please tell Wayne Pacelle to stop defending Vick, It's making me sick.”
- Tammy: ”OMG the president of the Humane Society thinks Vick would be a good dog owner!!!!! What a joke!!!!!!!!!!!”
- Danielle: “If your organization is wondering why it will no longer receive any donations from me or my family, you can attribute it to this offense quote from Wayne Pacelle.”
- Meredith: “Vick does not have to right to use a dog to help him rehabilitate. Vick does not have to right to use any dog ever again for his own personal gain. Wayne's position on this matter cuts like a knife and is a huge betrayal to those of us that have tirelessly stood behind him and defended him … It was a very hard pill to swallow when HSUS initially hooked up with Vick, but this is a deal breaker.”
- Lori: “Mr. Pacelle are you crazy? Have you even read The Lost Dogs?! This man is evil … I can not believe this statement came from a man who is the president of the Humane Society.”
- Crystal: “I have loved you most of my life but I feel you are loving $$ & Michael Vick more than me. I have always supported you & defended you. Please stop e-mailing me for $$. It is time to break up.”
- Tara: “I thought you supported the rights of animals and not dog murdering psychopaths! I guess money really does talk Wayne's language.”
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Karen: Give Vick a dog? This group stinks!
Posted on 12/16/2010 at 06:05 PM by the HumaneWatch Team
Animal Fighting • Fundraising & Money • (19) CommentsComments
Give to your local shelters instead. I was shocked to find that they did not. Vick does not even deserve a toy Dog!
With the great season Michael Vick is having, Wayne Pacelle needs Vick more than Vick needs Wayne Pacelle.
yeah & Charles would be a good father are you kidding me?
I’m stopping my monthly donation, this entire subject makes me sick!
I’m not surprised Pacelle would back Vick in thinking he would be a good pet owner. Pacelle sees nothing but $$$$$.
Pacelle just showed his true colors, doesn’t surprise me at all.
HSUS doesn’t support the animals anyway,,,but furthers his bank roll and his retirement probably is looking pretty good…Not surprised at all by him.
If the Vick thing hadn’t happened before HumaneWatch started stirring people up, I’d say that they wanted him to prove that they aren’t against animal ownership and don’t believe that to own an animal is to abuse it. After all, if they can ‘rehabilitate’ Vick, in the public mind, they must be on the side of the angels, right?
But unless they are really doing things as they go along, that doesn’t seem likely. They desperately need cases such as Vick’s to ‘prove’ to the public how abusive people are, so Vick was a godsend to them. But this new tack is just weird.
Most people who plead or are convicted of animal abuse are barred from owning animals again, often for life. People who are convicted of much lesser abuse crimes. So this is just plain weird.
Think maybe Pacelle went off his B-12 supplements, and this is the result of actual brain damage?
The judge ruled NO DOGS!! If this gets changed then there is NO justice system. The judge ruled. It should NOT be changed just because Vick has money and is a football player - that is BS! Vick - a good dog owner??? He proved what kind of dog owner he is!! The judge said NO DOGS!! And that’s that!! BS Pacelle, you are ruining the HSUS and it is becoming a joke, it is not what it stood for way back in the beginning, seems it’s now a money making machine. NO DOGS NO DOGS NO DOGS! Get with it!!!! In memory of ALL Vick’s dogs that suffered at Vick’s own hands - NO DOGS!! Good dog owner - spit on Vick & Pacelle! Geez, unbelievable!
@David, you are probably right on that, but he should never be allowed to do so. My opinion.
You know, I’m not a bit surprised at this turn of events. As a former lobbyist to the Kansas Legislature, I have often wondered what made the other side, on issues involving moral stands, say such stupid things that did nothing more than shoot themselves in the rear. It was a running joke that they had foot-in-mouth disease. When you play on the side of the Angels, your battle is won in a Higher Court.
Caption for above photo.
Vick—“Hey, thanks for coverin’ my back, man. You got my check, right?”
Pacelle *chuckling light heartedly*—“Yes, yes we did. And if you need a good word again, you already know where to send the check, right?”
When I read about Wayne Pacelle showing up in a limo, with THREE bodyguards (!), at the town meeting welcoming and supporting Vick’s release from prison I cancelled any further support to HSUS! Looks like it as a good decision - Pacelle is all about money - not the animals! Time to get someone who really cares about the animals and not about a gigantic salary!
So, I am confused…
It is alright for the HSUS and whiney Wayne to take dogs away from breeders because of tartar on a dog’s teeth, get them convicted in court of animal abuse (which means they can never own a dog again), BUT it’s OK for Michael Vick to have another chance at dog ownership even though he was convicted of animal abuse, torture, and the horrific and unforgivable killing of his dogs.
This whole mess in our country with animal rights whackos makes me sick. And now (in my certain and continuing confusion) I have come to the oonclusion that the world has gone completly crazy.
When will this craziness end? As soon as the people of this country wake up, get educated, and give HSUS the boot….for good.
I wish I knew when all it would end too. So much animal cruelty and abuse. We are suppose to be taking care of them. But yet the evil minds keep on doing it. The justice system is not always just. If this was you or I that did what Vick did, would we get what he did? Oh heck no! So he has money and is a football star - whoopdedoo!!! Those poor dogs went thru unbearable torture because of Vick, done by his own hands and he’s a good dog owner???? Yeah okay!! Everytime I see him and his smart… smile, I think how often did that “smile” cross his face when he did what he did to those dogs. I know to forgive is divine, but….......... The HSUS may have started out good in the beginning way back when, but now - money money money that’s all that matters. Yes, you are right, the whole world has gone crazy and it is time for those who need to wake up & get educated and stop being so ignorant - to do so.
WHAT?? The president of the HS wants him to own another dog!!! He needs to go find another job. I will never support this or the President . Stand up to speak for the animals. Isnt that what you are getting paid for or is Vick paying you more???
@Lynn- yep, Wayne must have gone off the B vitamin supplements - shows what a vegan diet will do to your brain…LOL, I appreciate your posts!
This just shows the hypocrisy of the AR industry once again. CORRUPT! Folks, donate to your local shelters. Don’t give money, ask what brand of dog/cat food or supplies they need and provide them. That way, you know your gift will be well utilized to help the animals.
Weasel words aplenty. Too bad for Pacelle so much was recorded and printed and distributed so widely. HSUS’s usual media darling status just might have taken a turn this week. It can’t happen too soon.
Gayla - great remarks! I’ve been learning some lessons in political games in my state legislature the past couple of years, and I gotta tell ya, this is one of those gifts that our lobbyist promised would come our way if we could stand to wait for it. Foot in mouth disease is IT!
The total hypocrisy is what is so incredible. People occasionally want to make this into a debate about football, talent, “second chances”, or celebrity, animal rights vs animal ownership, or failings of the justice system, but the point that I see in all of this is the lack of character. . . . greed, self-centered-ness, the sociopathic personality that feels no empathy or genuine guilt, the scheming, excuse-making, and so forth. And the fact that BOTH OF THESE individuals are basically the same, and frankly, deserve each other. Vick’s only regret is getting caught, and now Wayne Pacelle is probably feeling his pain. Good.
If memory serves, Vick did not serve any time for animal cruelty due to the plea bargain. Yet Wayne Pacelle can get away with raiding dog breeders on flimsy evidence (the fact that they are breeding dogs is crime enough in animal rights circles), charging them with animal cruelty, crucifying them, ruining their reputations, destroying their livelihood, selling or destroying their dogs before court determinations of guilt or innocence, while embracing this poor excuse for a human being, Micheal Vick, as if he were “rehabilitated”? In most places, conviction of certain forms of animal cruelty - and Vick’s crimes are about the worst there are - removes a person’s rights to own animals ever again. The conundrum is obvious to most of us. Pacelle has painted himself into a corner.
Can anyone believe that Wayne Pacelle and his minions in the HSUS head office really care about animals? Wayne himself has said that he does not “love” animals, has never bonded with a single one. So Vick’s shallow, phony apology, basically scripted words, could easily sound sincere to someone who can live such a paradoxical life. Enough money justifies much in his mind, he can rationalize.
I’ll be waiting for Wayne Pacelle to “rehabilitate” all the convicted dog fighters, if they can repeat Vick’s script with a straight face. Right off the street, or out of the jails - come on Wayne, you are a savior of “animals”, right.?
HSUS has finally shot itself in the proverbial foot - nothing left to stand on any more, the truth is revealed.
hyp·o·crite
–noun
<OL><LI>a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.</li>
<LI>a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.</LI></OL>
“I don’t have a hands-on fondness for animals…To this day I don’t feel bonded to any non-human 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.”—-Current “Humane” Society of the United States (HSUS) President/CEO Wayne Pacelle in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 251.
“I have a better window to see Vick’s rehabilitation unfold than just about anyone. I’ve been watching it carefully, and I’ll continue to do so. It’s a lot more complex than a yes-no question. It’s a progression, and he’s under a microscope at every turn, and rightfully so. If a perpetrator serves time and gets counseling, and if they show they can be an upstanding member of society, then maybe, under the right circumstances and after several years of not being allowed to have a pet, then they could have their pet-keeping privileges reinstated. Where the human-animal bond has been broken, we want it to be restored.” Wayne Pacelle’s Blog, December 16, 2010
Can a weasel also be a hypocrite?
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And the devil shows his horns….