Posted on 05/20/2002 5:43:46 PM PDT by Bowana
My Side of the Story
Humane Society Not Affiliated with Local SPCA
Although the name would lead one to believe that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is affiliated with your local Humane Society, this is not the fact. Even the HSUS’s own documents state that “The HSUS does not oversee local animal shelters or societies.” They do set up recommended policies and guidelines that local Humane Societies may or may not decide to follow. The HSUS does affect local Humane Societies in other ways though, and that is through their fundraising efforts. With twenty eight percent of HSUS donations going directly toward more fundraising, this is quite an overpowering force that limits the availability of donations for local organizations.
The HSUS has grown to be the largest Animal Welfare organization in the country and has done so by tugging at the heartstrings of pet owners everywhere. Of course the reality is that the HSUS has been leaning more and more towards being an Animal Rights organization and limiting the use and ownership of animals altogether. In my first investigation of the HSUS I wrote a letter to newspapers titled “Pet Owners Beware of the HSUS” This letter pointed out the many instances where the HSUS actually worked against pet owners.
The HSUS took issue with my statements that had been printed in several newspapers and Joanne Bourbeau, the HSUS New England regional director responded stating that “"Pet Owners Beware of the HSUS" is grossly inaccurate and misleading.” She also claimed that “The HSUS is an animal protection organization not an animal rights organization.” and that “We are not a vegetarian organization; in fact, we promote non-factory farms that use humane animal husbandry practices.”
In my reply to the HSUS I pointed out that the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education (NAHEE), the HSUS’s youth education division, and it’s Teen division called HumaneTeen, both have several links to Animal Rights organizations and Vegan websites. Veganism is one step beyond Vegetarianism in that Vegans avoid all meat and any meat by-products. The HSUS may not be a Vegetarian or a Vegan organization, but they certainly promote it.
The HSUS website states that “responsible” pet owners get their pets neutered. To claim that any pet owner that doesn’t do this is irresponsible led me to ask the HSUS these questions, “As for the HSUS’s position on pets, the HSUS may want to save the pets that are alive now, but if every responsible pet owner must neuter their pet, then where will the next generation of pets come from? Will your organization judge who is allowed to have litters, and also who is allowed to have these pets when they are born?”
Also regarding adoptions at shelters, “Right now a lot of shelters will not give a pet to a household where no one is home during the day. In today’s world most couples both have to work, so if a husband and wife work then they can't adopt a dog. My family and I have had several dogs and cats, and they were left home alone during the day. These animals were great animals and did no damage. Why deny an animal a home when the alternative is euthanasia?”
These questions seemed to get the attention of the Main office of the HSUS in Washington, D.C.. Kathy Bauch, the Director of Project Management replied “Since you seem incapable of grasping facts and continue to state inaccuracies about The HSUS, we consider further correspondence with you to be useless and will not engage in it.” Were my questions out of line? I don’t think so. They seemed like reasonable questions to me.
The HumaneTeen Flashpoints section includes a request for teens to take a course on Animal Rights at the University of Rochester, N.Y.. According to the University’s website “In this course we will attempt to thoughtfully and carefully answer” questions like what are animal rights and do animals have rights? These questions will be “thoughtfully and carefully” answered by the teacher, Nathan Nobis. In a review of the book “Defending Animal Rights” on Amazon.com he wrote, “animals, like humans, have the right to be treated with respect and so not used by humans for food, clothing, experimental subjects, or entertainment.”
In a review of the book “Sacred Cows and Golden Geese: The Human Cost of Experiments on Animals”, Mr. Nobis states that “The Greeks clearly show that animal experimentation is not (and never has been) necessary for human health and that, in fact, human health and safety is often compromised by animal experimentation.” Thanks for that intellectual statement Mr. Nobis, but my mother would probably not be alive today if it wasn’t for animal testing and that’s one trade off that I would take every time.
This is the teacher that the Humane Society of the United States is recommending teens to go to and learn about Animal rights. Of course the HSUS is not a Vegetarian organization or an animal rights one either. The HSUS just wants to teach the next generation about animal rights.
One of the main sponsors of the annual Animal Rights conference has been none other than the HSUS. At the 2001 conference Howard Lyman was indicted into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame. Lyman is the “Eating With Conscience Campaign” director with the HSUS. His name may be familiar; he was the Vegetarian on the Oprah show when the meat industry, for her comments about tainted beef, sued her and Lyman.
Some of the events at the 2001 animal rights conference co-sponsored by the HSUS include things like how to get attention, Legally and otherwise, Dealing with Law Enforcement, arrests, jail time and grand juries. One course asks if the animal rights cause can justify lying, cheating, and stealing to reach their goals. On the last day Wayne Pacelle a vice president of the HSUS said that “We want to put them into prison, we want to take away their right to vote, we want to take away their right to own a gun.” He later stated that he was referring to felony animal abusers, although the title of his presentation was “"Sport Campaigns (Hunting, fishing, rodeos, cockfighting, bullfighting, greyhounds." All of which are legal in at least some areas of the United States.
Seems like the Humane Society of the United States is the one being “grossly inaccurate and misleading” doesn’t it? If anyone really wants to donate money for animals where it will do the most good, look for your local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals, your local Humane Societies, and if you can try and find “No Kill” shelters. When you donate to a No Kill shelter you know your money is going to save animals, and that’s My Side of the Story.
My Side of the Story Columns from 2002
Ok, who believed me??
I_know,_I_know.
The_tears_of_shock_and_disbelief_have_shorted_out_my_space_bar.
"A far more dangerous assault has been launched on the classroom by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) under the Trojan Horse of environmentalism, saving endangered species and "animal protectionism"."Source - 'THE TROJAN HORSE OF ANIMAL PROTECTIONISM' 12/09/1992
Yeah it's about time the local Humane Societies get themselves a different name and put a little more daylight between themselves and the HSUS. They keep getting blasted for the dumb stuff the HSUS does, and they aren't the same animal (no pun intended).
Well...... ME
OH WOW what a great analogy!
Thanks to you,I was able to send a copy of this the very next day and she now tells me she has been showing it to friends.;o)
Thanks to you,I was able to send a copy of this the very next day and she now tells me she has been showing it to friends.;o)
Thank YOU So Much!
I still have the letter the HSUS sent asking me to stop spreading mis-information about them! It is a TROPHY TO ME!
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