The Humane Society: Genuine critter concerns, or power trip in the name of pets?

Power Trip

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by Kimberley A. Willis

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The Humane Society- True Concern or Power trip

The Humane Society of the United States is more about power than helping pets. The HSUS is one of the richest and most powerful lobbyist and activist groups in the country.

What most people fail to realize is that The Humane Society of the United States, the one with all the advertisements depicting starving dogs and requesting donations, does not run one single pet animal shelter in the United States. Their focus is animal rights- legislation and litigation for various animal causes. Of the millions of dollars collected from donations very little actually goes to caring for companion animals in need.

What the Humane Society does spend its time and money doing is to promote anti- hunting and fishing sentiment, lobby against livestock farming and meat eating, "defend" animal actors, lobby against the use of lab animals, and breath down the necks of zoos and circuses. They do step in on some high profile pet cruelty cases, generally as advisors, occasionally suing on the animals behalf in a high profile cases involving puppy mills or dog fighting rings.

In fact the HSUS only takes on pet animal cases that they can use in sensational news releases that bring money pouring into their organization. But the money they collect from the case rarely goes to help alleviate the suffering of the animals in the case or pay for their care. That's left up to the local taxpayers.

If you go on their website you will find that most of the current litigation they are involved in involves wildlife or farm animals. In many cases the tax payer dollar is paying the bill for the other side of the case. Currently the Humane Society of the United States is suing the US Postal service for allowing cock fighting magazines to go through the mail, the US Forest Service, the US Department of Agriculture, several state agriculture departments, the Makah Indian Tribe, the city of San Diego and Japanese whaling companies.

There is no doubt that sometimes farm animals, lab animals and wildlife need to be protected. We do need to regulate zoos and circuses. The Humane Society says that its job is to educate us on the plight of animals and that is all well and good. However, the perception of most people about the Humane Society of the United States is that they are caring for lost and abandoned pets and stopping cruelty to pets.

How do people get this perception? By looking at ads depicting starving dogs, dogs killed in dog fights and pets stuffed into tiny, dirty cages, and seeing the please donate to the Humane Society of the United States plea beneath it. These things exist and they are deplorable. But in most cases local humane societies are the ones that will be caring for the animals depicted in those pictures and they won't be getting any funding from the HSUS.

There are animal shelters that are part of the local government; these generally care for strays and relinquished pets. They are supported by your tax dollars and license fees. These shelters generally euthanize animals after a certain number of days. Some are well run and compassionate toward pets and others are simply horrendous.

There are also various organization of animal lovers who band together to run shelters for pets. They often use the word Humane in their title to signify that they are trying to handle pet animals in a compassionate way. They can be no-kill shelters or they may euthanize pets after a certain time. These shelters are supported by fund raising and community donations, and the fees they charge to adopt out pets.

Some state's have humane societies that are large and well run and do provide a valuable service for companion animals. Their policies on adoption vary from cursory history taking of prospective owners to screening so onerous that the animals spend the rest of their lives in the cage at the shelter.

Shelter conditions also vary. Some people who begin humane shelters and believe that no animal should be euthanized become so overwhelmed by aging and sick pets that conditions deteriorate. Others just don't have funding to do a good job.

In some humane shelters those running the shelter become so possessive of the pets that they are reluctant to adopt out any of them and set up stringent rules. In others people are assigned to work there from community work programs and jails who really don't like animals and who mistreat them. Don't be afraid to speak out against any shelter practices or conditions you find that aren't humane- even if the word humane is in the name of the shelter.

There are some humane societies who have silly rules that just aren't humane. One of our state humane shelters automatically kills any dog from a hunting breed; because they are afraid someone will get them and use them for hunting. Many shelters automatically destroy any dog with pit bull blood or that they perceive as having pit bull blood, no matter what temperament it has.

What most humane societies don't want you to know is that the number of dogs taken to shelters has steadily declined over the last ten years. For shelters that depend on adoption fees to continue running this can be a problem. Some have resorted to importing small breed dogs and puppies from shelters elsewhere and there are groups who actually "rescue" small breed dogs from other countries for Americans to adopt.

The number of cats taken to shelters goes up every year. What the HSUS could do if they truly cared about pet animals is offer to spay and neuter every cat in the country. They could also offer to spay and neuter every dog whose owner meets certain income guidelines. They do have some minimal programs for providing food and medical services to pets of low income families and these should be drastically expanded.

If the HSUS wanted to help care for companion animals, the funding that they receive annually could do miracles. Instead they spend your donations suing the government and putting together large expeditions to photograph seal hunts. They spend large amounts of money on TV and magazine ads depicting sad pets so you'll send them money. After all they do know the best use for that money isn't on sad pets but rather on keeping poor people from killing a whale for food.

The HSUS does do some educating on the proper care of pets and this educating is the reason many people decide to donate to the HSUS. But if you truly want your donation to help pets, then make your donation to a local humane shelter you have visited and think treats pets and owners in a compassionate way.

If you want to save baby seals and stop hunting, then do send donations to the HSUS.
If you think having lobbyists in Washington to stop people from eating meat and wearing fur is needed then donate to the HSUS. If you want a sanctuary for circus lions, donate to the HSUS.

However if you want unwanted pets to be cared for until they find new homes, for pets to be spayed and neutered, for the elderly and those out of work to have resources for pet food and medical care then support a local humane society that supports those needs. Better yet join a local animal rescue group.

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