Louise's Two Cents - What's in a Name? Nothing if it's the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

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Louise’s Two Cents: What's in a Name? Nothing if it's the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)
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Regional retailer Meijer, a seller of outdoor and sporting goods among other items, recently severed ties with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) after complaints from its customers.

In April 2008, Meijer had agreed to donate to an HSUS fund to address the purported problem of abandoned pets as a result of the national home foreclosure crisis. Sportsmen and hunters who shop Meijer were outraged and the store backed away from HSUS.

Like so many, the Meijer company believed, based on its name, that HSUS was affiliated with local humane societies across the United States. Nothing could be further from the truth.

HSUS severed its ties with local humane societies years ago when it ceased to be an animal welfare group that actually cared for abandoned animals and became an animal rights group that lobbies for restrictive pet legislation and raises money, lots and lots of money.

Here's how the HSUS website tries to spin its relationship:
For more than a half century, The HSUS has stood as the nation's most important advocate for local humane societies.

By long-standing tradition, local humane societies remain independent entities, each with its own policies, governance, and priorities.

What this means is that HSUS not only doesn't fund any local humane societies but also charges them for services.

HSUS is a group that never misses an opportunity to exploit a national issue for its own fund raising. That includes the recent widespread foreclosures as described above and the Michael Vick pit bull fighting scandal. Interestingly, HSUS never mentioned how many of Mr. Vick's fighting dogs it treated or homed (the answer is none) when it used the scandal to raise money.

In fact, in 2005 the Louisiana Attorney General's office launched an investigation of HSUS when allegations surfaced that the money raised as a result Hurricane Katrina never made it to the pets in need. HSUS reportedly paid $300,000 to settle this. That's just $100,000 more than the annual salary it pays to Wayne Pacelle, the HSUS CEO.

The Washington DC-based HSUS raised $100 million dollars according to its 2006 IRS filing. Despite its name, its main function is to change laws that permit Americans to gain any benefit from animals.

It advocates for restrictions on dog and cat breeding, livestock farming, bans on life-saving medical research performed on animals and opposes zoos, circuses, rodeos and hunting.

In 2007 HSUS launched a campaign to address "puppy mills," abusive large-scale commercial dog breeding operations. Using sentimental images of suffering puppies, the organization is backing legislation in Pennsylvania that would devastate small hobby breeders, dog show kennels and sporting dog enthusiasts. The legislation is so radical that it has been opposed by the American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club and even dog rescue shelters in the state.

That's the real HSUS. Take advantage of American's love for their pets and deceive donors and the public into believing that the organization is a mainstream group that actually treats abandoned and abused pets.

Want to donate to a worthwhile animal welfare group? Give directly to your local humane society or county animal shelter. Just call them and ask where to send a check!

Don't help HSUS rob financially strapped dog and cat shelters across America of the critical funds needed to actually look after abandoned and abused pets.

For information on how rich HSUS is and how much money it spends on administration and fund raising, visit Charity Navigator at
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3848

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