PRESS RELEASE: Watchdog Group Urges Humane Association to Expand Attorney General Complaint
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Watchdog Group Urges Humane Association to Expand Attorney General Complaint Against the ASPCA
Humane Organization Should Also Target HSUS For Deceptive Fundraising
Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is calling on the State Humane Association of California to expand a May 3 deceptive-fundraising complaint it filed with Attorney General Kamala Harris against the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Through its “HumaneWatch” project (www.HumaneWatch.org), CCF has uncovered evidence that the fundraising practices of the wealthy Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are equally unethical.
The Humane Association alleges that the ASPCA’s deceptive ads drain animal lovers’ money out of communities without informing donors that only a tiny fraction will return to California-based SPCAs and other pet shelters.
“Targeting deceptive animal fundraising campaigns is a great idea, but it shouldn’t stop with the ASPCA,” said CCF Executive Director Rick Berman. “The ASPCA at least runs one pet shelter. HSUS is just a mammoth lobbying outfit that shares less than 1 percent of its money with hands-on pet shelters. But the pictures in HSUS’s fundraising ads are practically 100 percent cats and dogs.”
According to national polling conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, 59 percent of Americans incorrectly believe HSUS gives most of its money to organizations that care for dogs and cats.
“The Attorney General needs to spay and neuter these dishonest fundraising campaigns,” continued Berman, “and HSUS’s emotionally manipulative ads are a great place to start. California pet shelters need Californians’ donations far more than east-coast animal rights groups with hundred-million-dollar budgets.”
The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit watchdog organization that informs the public about the activities of tax-exempt activist groups. It is supported by American consumers, business organizations, and foundations.
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