• We always suspected HSUS inflated its membership stats a bit, but this is getting silly
• Even HSUS’s fans are seeing through its “vegan kibble” gambit
• HSUS’s California ploy may run afoul of the Constitution (you know, that "speciesist" document...)
• HSUS “solution”? Save the geese, damn the planes, screw the hungry
• Listening to HSUS's horse experts brings unintended consequences
• Californians have questions? We have answers.

Come back next week for more truth-telling, research-sharing, and analysis of America's richest animal rights group! (If you need your HumaneWatch fix over the weekend, there's always Facebook.)

• HSUS's celebrity-worship Facebook page is still up, but less than 250 fans "like" it (ouch!)
• HSUS New York leader sides with geese, calls feeding the homeless "unnecessary" (classy...)
• Ohio lawmaker: Buckeye Compromise will have a “negative impact on our communities and economy.”
• Your Daily Shelter: Illinois’s Benld Adopt-A-Pet (Donate. Volunteer. Adopt.)

• Ohio livestock farmer is "somewhat furious" about the Buckeye Compromise
• Kansas farm blogger: “I personally don't want HSUS talking for me…They don't want the American public to know the truth about agriculture.”
• Everyone except HSUS enjoyed the weekend shark fishing tournament
• Will Dallas be the next big city to ban pet sales?
• Your Local Shelter: Idaho’s Northwest Animal Companions (Donate. Volunteer. Adopt.)

On Tuesday we told you about how Humane Society International is claiming to be supported by 11 million people worldwide. Now, it's entirely possible that the Humane Society of the United States (which runs HSI) got its elevensies mixed up. $11 million in debt, 11 million members—you can see how easy it would be to confuse the two.

We suspected that HSI was inflating its membership numbers, but suspicion and proof are two different things. Today we have both.

The European Commission hosts a website called the "register of interest representatives." (Think of it like a Yellow Pages for European lobbyists.) And the entry called "Humane Society International" shows something very, very interesting.

• Outdoor Life blogger sees HSUS literature at vet clinic: "I have to draw a line in the sand"
• Ohio livestock board members speak favorably of the Buckeye Compromise
• Is HSUS trying to assemble an activist army in South Dakota?
• Agriculture columnist: HSUS’s Ohio campaign “has served only to raise funds and gain momentum for its vegan agenda.”
• Your Daily Shelter: Florida’s Humane Society of the Nature Coast (Donate. Volunteer. Adopt.)

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:

Sacramento is (as one political writer recently quipped) "where good ideas go to die, and where bad ideas kill them slowly." It's also an iron-clad lobbying stronghold of the Humane Society of the United States.

On Saturday, the paper of record in California's capital published our op-ed about the politics of eggs in the Golden State. Here's a taste:

What's really at stake here is that word: "humane." HSUS seems to want a monopoly on it, even though other animal welfare-oriented groups – and plenty of scientists – disagree with its agenda. And that agenda is where the rubber meets the road: HSUS is run by vegans who don't believe anyone should eat eggs, regardless of how or where they were produced.

Most recently, HSUS has opposed attempts by California lawmakers to specifically define the standards mandated by Proposition 2. The very vague language that California voters approved in 2008 gives HSUS's enormous legal team enough wiggle room to hassle farmers who don't see things HSUS's way.

Of course, enriched chicken cages could be furnished with couches, Jacuzzis, treadmills and iPads, and activists who believe in "rights" for birds would still complain about them. HSUS is among them. And its vision of what's "humane" is outside the mainstream.

Click here to read the whole essay.

• Farmers begin opening the barn doors to show what HSUS is getting wrong
• Whole Foods Market will sell HSUS vegan drivel kibble
• Eugene, Oregon citizen journalist spells out exactly how HSUS got its D rating
• HSUS is putting money toward videos meant to scare people into vegetarianism
• Your Daily Shelter: Oklahoma’s Humane Society of Grove & Grand Lake (Donate. Volunteer. Adopt.)

One of the first articles on this blog cast doubt on the Humane Society of the United States’s frequent claim that it has 11 million “supporters.” We now know, thanks to a recent HSUS fundraising letter, that the group has (at most) just 1.2 million members. (By our math, that number could be as low as 420,000.) The “11 million” claim is pure puffery that HSUS uses to try to increase influence in its lobbying efforts.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, perhaps HSUS will stop trying to inflate its influence in Washington (and countless state capitals) by a whole order of magnitude. But never fear, the group is already starting to use its fuzzy math overseas. In a press release issued today in Great Britain, Humane Society International (HSI) claims to have “11 million supporters globally.”

Here we go again.

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.