f a hunter was to be injured by an animal he was hunting, not many people would call it a form of “justice.” But that’s exactly the view that has been espoused by Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States. While many in the hunting community are well aware the HSUS is just a slicker version of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the extent of HSUS’ wealth and its potential to be a political threat is largely misunderstood.

Pacelle has said he wants to turn HSUS The Less Than 1 Percenters into a National Rifle Association of the HSUS intentionally capitalizes on the animal-rights movement, which has the confusion it creates about its mission. avowed goal of stopping hunting, animal The vast majority—85 percent in a two- agriculture and other uses of animals. year review—of the animals shown in The key to fighting HSUS lies in under- HSUS commercials are dogs and cats. standing its base of support—achieved And those images have helped to shape through deception—and its piecemeal public opinion about the group. A poll political strategy to move the goalposts. by the Opinion Research Corporation From what we eat to what we wear found that 71 percent of Americans to especially what we come home to, wrongly believe that HSUS “is an um- animals play an important part in our brella group that represents thousands lives. According to the American Veteri- of local humane shelters across Ameri- nary Medical Association, 56 percent of ca.” A full 68 percent mistakenly believe households have a pet, and the pet in- HSUS “contributes most of its money dustry generates more than $50 billion to local organizations that care for dogs annually. and cats.”1 This is the font of support It is no surprise then that the image of that keeps HSUS so well-funded. helpless pets scarred by abuse and ne- If you care about The truth is if HSUS dispersed most its glect arouses a strong nurturing instinct starving creatures, money to local humane society groups, in us. And it is no surprise that groups it could finance shelters for stray and purporting to fight animal cruelty fea- you’re probably better abandoned animals in every state. When ture these images in the vast majority of off grinding your fundraising, HSUS advertises the sad commercials soliciting donations. The dollars into a fact that millions of dogs and cats are eu- HSUS annual budget of about $130 mil- thanized in pet shelters every year. Even lion testifies to the power of this human nutricious paste and just spending half of the $131 million it sentiment. feeding them directly. raised in 2011 would have saved many And it is precisely the nobility of their This may not be the of those animals from premature death. unwitting donors that makes HSUS’ ac- But in that year–the most recent report- tual purpose and agenda so wicked by best use of dollars, but ed data–HSUS tax returns show the contrast. at least all of them group contributed less than 1 percent of Despite having a name similar to more would be guaranteed the money it received from donors to pet than 1,000 groups that provide care for shelters. In the same year, it put another animals across the country, the Humane to reach the animals. $2.4 million into its own pension fund— Society of the United States is not affil- Huffington Post far more than it contributed to shelters iated with your local pet shelter. HSUS nationwide.2 does not run pet shelters of its own. It short-term strategy. In truth, hunters, And this financial dishonesty is not does not promote “animal welfare” as farmers, pet owners, anyone who wears just a recently acquired habit. HSUS the phrase is commonly understood. leather or enjoys the circus and the 99 CEO Wayne Pacelle started attracting HSUS is different from PETA and oth- percent of Americans who are not veg- negative attention for himself when he er more radical animal liberation groups ans are all targets of HSUS’ long-term made a full-court press in the media to Photo: Patrick McMullin Co. / AP McMullin Co. Patrick Photo: only in its public-relations savvy and its campaign. raise money to aid animals, particular-

november 2013 | 79 | americanhunter.org from disease and predation) or banning In Pacelle’s view, “Animals are no one’s of lead shot in hunting. But don’t miss property, and they have the right not the bird’s-eye view: HSUS’ strategy is to be ‘taken,’ ‘harvested,’ or ‘culled’ or any overthrow humanity’s relationship with other euphemism for murder that wild- animals—but in incremental steps. To life managers use.” Pacelle told the me- that end it lobbies to pass laws that make dia about a “satirical” play that activists animal farming or hunting more expen- would perform in which hunters were sive, more difficult and more annoying. themselves hunted down. Bizarrely, it In 2009, for example, HSUS spent a was in his Yale years that Pacelle even little over $1,500 in grants to pet shelters wrote in the school newspaper that in the state of Ohio.6 It earmarked $1.7 “I don’t love animals or think they are million, however, to engage in a political cute.” HumaneWatch.org exposes battle over Ohio’s Livestock Care Stan- Five years after his Yale arrest, as na- HSUS for what it is–an extremist dards Amendment the following year.7 tional director for the Fund for Animals, animal-rights group that does What offended the HSUS was the idea Pacelle conducted a campaign against little for actual animal welfare. that Ohio would appoint a commission hunters in the Rocky Mountain West. to govern the standards of livestock com- He told the Associated Press, “... if we ly pets, after Hurricane Katrina. HSUS posed only of farmers and veterinarians could shut down all sport hunting in a took in about $34.6 million under the rather than animal-liberation activists. moment we would.” pretense of helping animals displaced HSUS demanded new, costly regulations HSUS has an official position on hunt- by the hurricane. But tax records show deliberately intended to bankrupt Ohio ing that reads almost exactly like Pa- that in 2005 HSUS dispersed only $8.6 million in grants worldwide, including Louisiana.3 A Huffington Post colum- Photo Courtesy Center for Consumer Freedom Consumer for Center Courtesy Photo nist quipped, “If you care about starv- ing creatures, you’re probably better off ...if we could shut grinding your dollars into a nutritious down all sport hunting paste and feeding them directly. This

may not be the best use of dollars, but at in a moment we would. / AP Kaster Carolyn Photo: least all of them would be guaranteed to reach the animals.” farmers and dog breeders—and even to celle’s early position. The organization It’s hardly shocking then that the prevent the circus from coming to town. says it “works to end the worst abuses American Institute of Philanthropy Is that what people think they are in hunting and maintain longstand- gives HSUS a “D” rating for spending getting when they donate to HSUS? Do ing protection for animals where they fistfuls of cash with their fundraisers donors to this charity really understand already exist.” HSUS carefully avoids to churn out fundraising appeal after that they may be sending millions more saying what it would do, “if we could.” fundraising appeal.4 AIP’s president has to anti-agriculture activism than to pet But its well-funded campaigns to ban all said, “If you like getting those mailings shelters? lead ammunition in hunting give just a and want to pay for more of them, sup- hint of what it would do. Like most of its port the Humane Society [of the U.S.].” Animal Rights, campaigns the idea is to raise the cost, as (One of the few services that does give Not Animal Welfare non-lead hunting ammunition is signifi- HSUS good marks is the Better Business The Humane Society of the United cantly more expensive to drive hunters Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. Howev- States is staffed with veterans of more from the sport. er, the WGA takes money from charities straightforwardly radical animal-libera- HSUS is also campaigning to shut it rates—$15,000 a year in the case of tion groups. HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle down hunting on private ranches. Pri- HSUS.)5 formerly led the Fund for Animals, an vate hunting ranches have been suc- Fundraising aside, what programs do anti-hunting group that merged with cessful in growing populations of exotic HSUS fund with all the money it gets the HSUS in 2005, soon after Pacelle animals that are extinct or nearly extinct by tugging at your heart strings? Quix- took the reins. Pacelle got started with in the wild, namely the scimitar-horned otic political causes, for starters. The animal-rights activism by sabotaging oryx, the addax, and the dama gazelle, by focus on political activism means that hunting. He was arrested in 1986, while using the proceeds from hunting a small HSUS does far more to keep lobbyists, still a student at Yale, for harassing hunt- number of animals to invest in growing lawyers and professional agitators well- ers. “I asked the hunters, ‘How can you the overall herd. housed and fed than it does stray dogs. eat Thanksgiving dinner today with But that doesn’t matter to HSUS—it is The individual issues can sound obscure blood on your hands,’” Pacelle told the ideologically opposed to hunting, even if and even deliberately boring at first, Associated Press. it’s helping endangered species. HSUS like HSUS’ campaign for elimination of While a student, Pacelle helped lead a and its allies have gotten the U.S. Fish hen cages (which help protect the birds candle-light protest of Yale’s deer hunt. and Wildlife Service to require a federal

november 2013 | 80 | americanhunter.org permit to hunt these species—which ef- group. Although vegetarianism and oth- Goodbye Fido fectively could reduce these populations er alternative diets continue to grow in If it isn’t obvious already, HSUS’ dis- to nothing in 10 years, according to the popularity, 99 percent of Americans do honest form of activism actually hurts Exotic Wildlife Association.8 not meet the dietary standards of HSUS, pets. Well-meaning people give the HSUS vice president Paul Shapiro which is now a vegan activist organiza- group money thinking it will provide began his career in activism by found- tion. HSUS’ former vice president for food and shelter to abused animals. ing Compassion Over Killing (COK), a farm animal issues, Miyun Park, admit- When shelter professionals were polled radical animal-rights group in the mold ted as much, saying, “we don’t want any in 2011 by the website HumaneWatch. of PETA. COK was known in the Wash- of these animals to be raised and killed org, 71 percent of them agreed that HSUS ington, D.C., area for targeting fur seller [for food] ... we work on promoting veg- “misleads people into thinking it is asso- Miller’s Furs with harassment. Under anism,” meaning a diet free of animal ciated with local animal shelters.”9 The Shapiro’s leadership COK’s official mag- products. Shapiro has also added that azine, The Abolitionist, was a vehicle to “nothing is more important than pro- recruit activists, running a recruitment moting veganism.” CEO Pacelle was the WORLD notice for the MF-ALF, which stood for person who implemented a vegan office WAYNE’’S Miller’s Furs-Animal Liberation Front. policy soon after he took over HSUS. (The ALF has been labeled a domestic This was a change for the group, terrorist group by the FBI.) Disingenu- whose previous presidents were not ously, this recruitment notice had a dis- vegetarian and who had previously pro- claimer at the bottom “This article is for vided consumer guides to steer shop- entertainment purposes only. COK does pers to meat producers who had imple- AYNE “11%” PACELL WA ane Society of the U E , The Hum nited Sta not endorse (nor condemn) any illegal mented “humane” techniques in their CEO tes acts.” Shapiro and other COK alumni businesses. Since Pacelle took charge were recruited to HSUS, and now this of the HSUS, its guides are dedicated to former instigator is the “expert” who promoting veganism. All the food reci- dictates the minutia of HSUS livestock pes on its website are vegan. You will not standards to farmers. find a single one using even one animal HSUS’ food policy director is Matt product, no matter how organic it may Prescott. Is he an expert farm veterinar- be or how free the range was for the pro- ian? Of course not. Prescott is a PETA ducing hen. HUMANEWATCH.ORG veteran and was the man behind that Shapiro spoke at the “Animal Rights Keeping a watchful eye on the Humane Society of the United States group’s offensive “Holocaust on Your 2012” conference in Washington, D.C., Blasting the HSUS for its dishonest Plate” campaign. As you can imagine and made it clear that “humanely raised” leadership and misleading fundraising from the title of the project, Prescott animal products is an oxymoron: practices, HumaneWatch.org and NRA are compares the food industry to the sys- “For basically every animal product helping to shed light on this well-funded tem of work- and death-camps main- out there, we need to show people that charity’s true agenda tained by the Nazis to exterminate there is an easy, delicious, and conve- Jews. “We’ve kept the systems and the nient alternative. If it’s pigs they want false impression that HSUS deliberate- attitudes, just changed the victims,” ac- to eat, let them eat pig products that ly cultivates diverts money from animal cording to Prescott. To really make it as are made from plants. If it’s chicken, let shelters people want to support to the clear as possible, he said, “Anybody who them eat plant-based chicken products. legal activism they do not. eats meat ... is guilty of holding the same If it’s turkeys, let them eat these plant- That’s ironic given the sentiments of mindset that allowed the Holocaust to based turkey products, including To- HSUS leader Wayne Pacelle, who seems happen.” Those tasked with preserving furky.” to fall on the side of the animal-rights the memory of Nazi atrocities were hor- “Pig products that are made from movement that is against companion rified at Prescott’s use of documentary plants,” is activist-speak for dishes made animals in the abstract, if not in the im- photographs in PETA’s campaign. Now, of seaweed and treated wheat gluten. mediate near term. He has said, “I don’t at HSUS, he has perhaps kept the atti- HSUS pursues its vegan strategy on want to see another cat or dog born,” tudes, just changed the scenery. two fronts. First there is its evangeliza- and has noted, “there’s no special bond tion, with things like its pamphlets and between me and other animals.” Like Idolizing Veganism recipe guides. But the other side of it is its stance on animal products in the hu- The ultimate goal of animal-liberation the political activism mentioned above, man diet, or its official stance on hunt- groups is to stop the use of animals by aimed at increasing the price of meat, ing, HSUS’ stance on pets may start out people. Most uses of animals today in- dairy products and eggs. One surefire as one of targeting specific acute abuse, volve food production, whether meat, way to make Tofurky appealing is to move on to wide-ranging punitive regu- dairy or eggs. make turkey prohibitively expensive in lation and end in a total ban. Prescott’s high position at HSUS high- comparison. What comes to mind when the aver- lights another little-known facet of the age person thinks of the Humane Soci-

november 2013 | 81 | americanhunter.org ety of the United States? Does he think HSUS and two of its in-house attorneys of people who have harassed hunters, took part in a witness-payment and bo- encouraged extreme action against gus-litigation scheme. State political clothing stores, would make Tofurky the leaders, such as Nebraska Gov. Dave Thanksgiving staple and long for a day Heineman, have spoken bluntly against when no cats or dogs are born? HSUS’ agenda. Six congressmen sent a Its very name—the Humane Society letter to the IRS Inspector General ask- of the United States—implies this group ing for an investigation into whether the aims at an improvement of man’s rela- group has violated its tax-exempt status tionship with animals. But what it wants by getting involved in excessive lobby- is the radical reform of almost all hu- ing. man society. It would end the practice of HSUS has a sizeable brand. But the hunting “overnight” if it could. It would bigger they are, the harder they fall. put every rancher and dairy farmer in unemployment lines. It would take sau- sage and eggs off of breakfast plates. The Center for Consumer Freedom is a Adding to the deception is HSUS’s nonprofit coalition supported by restau- tactic of appearing to be backed by those rants, food companies and consumers it opposes. In a 2010 ballot campaign to promote personal responsibility and in North Dakota to ban so-called high- protect consumer choices. Visit fence hunting, HSUS’s lobbying arm HumaneWatch.org to learn more. used hunters in ads as a front to disguise its anti-hunting beliefs. This is a simi- 1. ORC International poll of 1,011 adults, lar tactic to environmentalists forming April 11-14, 2013. Margin of error +/- 3%. or funding “sportsmen’s” groups like 2. HSUS IRS Form 990, 2011. Available the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation online at Guidestar.org. Project and Trout Unlimited. HSUS 3. HSUS IRS Form 990, 2005. is also using a similar tactic in agricul- 4. CharityWatch Watchdog Report, May ture, forming state councils of “humane” 2013. farmers. It’s a classic divide and conquer 5. “BBB’s charity ratings, seal of approval strategy. under fire,” USA Today, 12/27/12. How long can an outfit like HSUS con- 6. HSUS IRS Form 990, 2009. tinue to operate? HSUS was founded in 7. HSUS IRS Form 990, 2010. 1954 and its success in raising funds has 8. “Can hunting endangered animals save been mostly recent. But the current re- the species?” 60 Minutes, June 10, 2012. gime is also facing increasing scrutiny. 9. Online Poll of 1,010 self-identified HSUS HSUS is a defendant in federal litiga- donors conducted April 21-25, 2012. Margin tion filed by Ringling Bros. circus owner of error +/- 3.1%. Feld Entertainment, which alleges that

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