Flashback: HSUS Isn’t About Just Dogs and Cats (Though You Might Think Otherwise)
For our first entry in Day 3 of our "flashback" series, take a look at the difference between HSUS's kitty-and-puppy image versus its all-animals activism.
Jul 23 2010
From the Desk of Wayne Pacelle
We’ve made a point of explaining that the Humane Society of the United States raises its money on the false premise that it’s primarily (or even exclusively) engaged in an animal welfare mission on behalf of dogs and cats. HSUS’s own TV ads make a compelling case for this conclusion, since they include very few animals that aren’t of the canine or feline variety.
HSUS has responded that of course it’s engaged in agitating for the rights of elephants, pigs, walruses, chickens, lab rats, cockroaches, killer whales, sharks, and the rest of the earth’s wide-ranging fauna. (OK—Maybe not the cockroaches.) HSUS Chief Operating Officer Michael Markarian even claimed this week in an Arkansas newspaper that “All our members know our mission…” as though there’s nothing surprising about an HSUS that spends less than one-half of one percent of its budget on dog and cat shelters.
But a helpful HumaneWatcher recently sent us a collection of recent HSUS fundraising mailers, and there’s one in particular that you should see. Is HSUS hiding the ball? You be the judge.
