Humane Society comes under fire in local farming magazine

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AmyK1980 Wednesday, July 7, 2010: 8:02 pm

Where to begin with the inaccuracies in this story? First, the Center for Consumer Freedom is abbreviated CCF, not CFC. It is a corporate funded lobby group whose sole purpose is to run a smear campaign against the Humane Society of the United States. And it looks like Michael Broihier bought right into it. As Wayne Pacelle indicated in this story, the CCF makes money by being paid to run smear campaigns against various non profits. The latest is the HSUS, but they have also attacked Mothers Against Drunk Driving (because the liquor industry doesn’t want tough drunk driving laws), the Centers for Disease Control (because food companies want pregnant women to think it’s OK to eat mercury contaminated fish), and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (because tanning bed companies want you to think you can tan all you want with no risk of cancer). If you want the real story on the CCF, it’s available a lot of places. Here are a few: Berman Exposed - http://bermanexposed.org/ HumaneWatch.info – provides background on HumaneWatch http://humanewatch.info/blog/hw-facts/ Rick Berman Attacks the Humane Society - PR Watch http://www.prwatch.org/node/8894 http://www.prwatch.org/node/9115 Center for Consumer Freedom - SourceWatch http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom Who is HumaneWatch? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_6FvqQEuCU Rachel Maddow interview with Rick Berman: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paula-crossfield/rachel-maddow-takes-on-co_b_312729.html Rachel Maddow - Rick Berman's deeply dishonest Astroturf Express http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Uf_QgMz_w Investigation of Berman, CCF - http://www.alternet.org/investigations/146832/corporate_frontman_known_as_'dr._evil'_makes_a_fine_living_attacking_charities/ Now let’s examine the basic idea of this story … that the HSUS should be funding local shelters. This is a fallacy. First, as HumaneWatch likes to point out, the HSUS is not the “national chapter” of the humane society. The HSUS is a standalone organization, as are each of the local animal shelters and humane societies. The purpose of the HSUS never has been to fund local humane societies – that is the responsibility of local areas. Sure, the HSUS could throw money at the thousands of local shelters, but if it did, it would be out of funds in a week and would have accomplished nothing. The homeless cats and dogs would just keep coming. That’s because throwing money at local shelters would only be attacking the symptoms of the problem. The HSUS was founded to attack the root causes of animal cruelty on a national level. This includes busting puppy mills, raiding animal fighting rings, and lobbying for better laws for animals. If you rescue one animal, you help that animal. If you get a law passed, you help millions of animals. No local shelter could do for animals what the HSUS does on a national scale. In addition, the HSUS exists to help ALL animals, not just dogs and cats. That includes billions of animals on large intensive confinement operations across the country. The farmers who think the HSUS is a “radical vegan organization that wants to take away your meat and your pets” are just plain wrong. They only thing the HSUS seeks is a stop to intensive confinement of veal calves, pregnant sows, and egg-laying hens that means they spend most of their lives unable to stand up, lie, down, turn around, or spread their limbs. That’s not very radical. Most Americans support this too. Finally, let’s look at the idea that most people who donate to the HSUS do so thinking the money will come back to their local humane society. David Martosko likes to cite a survey that says most Americans think the HSUS is the “national chapter” of the humane society. Certainly your reporter thought so. However, anyone who knows anything about animals knows that the general public, including most reporters, knows nothing about animals. If you ask a random person whether the HSUS is affiliated with their local shelter, the random person might make that assumption. But that person has likely never visited the HSUS website or stepped foot in their local shelter. What would be meaningful is if you ask a DONOR to the HSUS if the HSUS is the same as their local humane society. Most likely, that donor will tell you no. That’s because once you donate to the HSUS – even if you have never been to their website – you get all kinds of communications telling you what the HSUS is doing with your money. The All Animals magazine, emails, newsletters, Wayne Pacelle’s blog, and the website itself all layout in detail what the HSUS does, and it’s not to fund your local shelter. If you didn’t realize that before you donate (and most people check out an organization before they give money), you certainly will find out afterwards. However, because your reporter did not see fit to do even the most basic of background research before writing a story like this, he has swallowed the HumaneWatch bait hook, line and sinker. HumaneWatch intentionally misrepresents everything having to do with the HSUS because its purpose is to stop the HSUS from achieving much-needed reform for animals across the country. Next time, try checking your sources before you simply spout what they say wholesale.

HillaryatHSUS Wednesday, July 7, 2010: 8:48 pm

I work at the HSUS, and I’ve also worked at several animal shelters. Shelters do great work – adoptions, spay/neuter, humane education, cruelty investigations, etc. – but they’re established to meet the needs of their local community. The HSUS takes on broader animal welfare issues. Some of these issues, such as puppy mills and dogfighting, impact shelters; others, such as factory farming or commercial whaling, are entirely separate. We regularly communicate with our members about HSUS programs and campaigns, including those that have nothing to do with animal shelters or pets. Charity Navigator gives our organization an overall rating of three out of four stars. We have received this group’s highest rating for four of the past five years. Donors should be familiar with the nonprofits they support, and for HSUS supporters or others who have questions, our website is a good place to start: www.humanesociety.org. To view the HSUS’s most current annual report and financial statement, go to http://www.humanesociety.org/about/overview/financials/.

Truthseekerme Thursday, July 8, 2010: 2:38 pm

Patti Strand, of the National Animal Interest Alliance, author of "The Hijacking of the Humane Movement: Animal Extremism" is the true voice of animal welfare. HSUS is NOT connected in any way to similarly-named local humane society animal shelters, who are now legally changing their names because when local shelters ask for donations, they are being told the money was sent to HSUS!. HSUS makes the public think they are helping shelters by their TV commercials and print advertising of sad looking dogs and cats in shelters to get $19/month in donations, but only gives a mere 1/2 of 1% to direct animal care. HSUS uses the bulk of those donations instead to write and lobby for strict Animal Rights laws across the country designed to eventually eliminate animal ownership and food choice. HSUS uses media opportunities they help create to put language in place to paint a negative picture about all breeding and animal agriculture. HSUS promotes dubious and highly publicized raids on what they call "puppy mills" and "factory farms" to put those phrases into public use to manipulate emotions for more donations and public sympathy. See why Wayne Pacelle wants to "kill the messenger" at this HumaneWatch link about two former HSUS disaster workers who quit after recognizing HSUS' "unethical" and inaccurate publicity for donations: http://humanewatch.org/index.php/site/post/meet_HSUSs_faux_swat_team/

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