HumaneWatch......Keeping An Eye On HSUS

[Woogie Man]

The HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) has become so controversial in its mission and tactics that there is now a group devoted solely to monitoring it...HumaneWatch.org.

Their website is huge and is a lot to digest, but is there for anyone that wants to know more about the largest animal rights group in the country. For anyone interested, I would suggest bookmarking the site and going back to it often. There is too much there to absorb in one reading and it is updated regularly.

Here's the link...... HumaneWatch

Also, for anyone that would like to read an overview on the HSUS since its inception to now, here's a great site. Humane Society of the United States: Funding sources, staff profiles, and political agenda

The info on the second link is put out by the Center For Consumer Freedom.

[YorkieChick1]

Thanks for the info, gonna bookmark it and get to reading!!

[concretegurl]

Thanks for posting this I'm definitely interested in reading and learning more.
Personally after being a member for 14 years I recently ended my PETA membership because I'm not really into the full Vegan movement/agenda...I eat free ranging organic meats...and like drinking animal milk, eating animal cheese and my environmental views really rule out the use of plastic and other petroleum based alternatives to natural sustainable materials...animal rights activism shouldn't rule out a natural sustainable lifestyle.

[Wylie's Mom]

HumaneWatch is a division of the CCF (Ctr for Consumer Freedom). CCF's other sites are :

* ActivistCash.com
* AnimalScam.com
* CSPIScam.com
* HowMuchFish.com
* HumaneWatch.org
* MercuryFacts.org
* ObesityMyths.com
* PetaKillsAnimals.com
* PhysicianScam.com
* SweetScam.com

CCF is an organization who lobbies against Mothers for Drunk Drivers (MADD) bc one of CCF's major backers is the alcohol industry. A huge portion of CCF's funds also comes from tobacco, the meat industry, food industry, etcetera. CCF was launched with money from Phillip Morris Tobacco Company. The CCF went after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying - warnings about salmonella-related food poisoning are just “whipping up fear over food.” (leaves me speechless)

In my opinion, whatever agenda the CCF is pretending to promote - it is never the actual agenda. Rather, the agenda is formed with the goal of misleading people, so that industry giants' revenues keep coming in. For example, the CCF went after MADD...and the real reason is bc CCF is funded by the alcohol industry. The CCF will always go after Animal Welfare groups, bc CCF is supported by some of biggest food/meat companies in the world (Tyson, Cargill, Overhill etc).

Some press quotes about the CCF: The president of the American Federation of Teachers referred to the CCF's leader as "a shameless lobbyist who has shilled for pesticide, alcohol and tobacco companies." A USA Today journalist said that they should change the name of their website to FatForProfit.com.

To me, the CCF and the false information they convince people to believe is very scary. They not only have massive funding from giants in industry, they also clearly have a massively skilled marketing team who can wrap a false agenda right around a true one, and easily convince people the false one is really the real one. Very scary type of manipulative power.

The CCF does *not* work on behalf of people, it works solely on the behalf of gigantic industries whose bottom line is the only goal.

Here is a link for more info about the CCF (it's just a Wiki link, but it's a good summary, easy to read): Center for Consumer Freedom

Corporate contributors to CCF

Businesses associated with CCF

Individuals associated with CCF

Organizations Attacked by CCF

Just plain scary.

[TammyJM]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

HumaneWatch is a division of the CCF (Ctr for Consumer Freedom). CCF's other sites are :

* ActivistCash.com
* AnimalScam.com
* CSPIScam.com
* HowMuchFish.com
* HumaneWatch.org
* MercuryFacts.org
* ObesityMyths.com
* PetaKillsAnimals.com
* PhysicianScam.com
* SweetScam.com

CCF is an organization who lobbies against Mothers for Drunk Drivers (MADD) bc one of CCF's major backers is the alcohol industry. A huge portion of CCF's funds also comes from tobacco, the meat industry, food industry, etcetera. CCF was launched with money from Phillip Morris Tobacco Company. The CCF went after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying - warnings about salmonella-related food poisoning are just “whipping up fear over food.” (leaves me speechless)

In my opinion, whatever agenda the CCF is pretending to promote - it is never the actual agenda. Rather, the agenda is formed with the goal of misleading people, so that industry giants' revenues keep coming in. For example, the CCF went after MADD...and the real reason is bc CCF is funded by the alcohol industry. The CCF will always go after Animal Welfare groups, bc CCF is supported by some of biggest food/meat companies in the world (Tyson, Cargill, Overhill etc).

Some press quotes about the CCF: The president of the American Federation of Teachers referred to the CCF's leader as "a shameless lobbyist who has shilled for pesticide, alcohol and tobacco companies." A USA Today journalist said that they should change the name of their website to FatForProfit.com.

To me, the CCF and the false information they convince people to believe is very scary. They not only have massive funding from giants in industry, they also clearly have a massively skilled marketing team who can wrap a false agenda right around a true one, and easily convince people the false one is really the real one. Very scary type of manipulative power.

The CCF does *not* work on behalf of people, it works solely on the behalf of gigantic industries whose bottom line is the only goal.

Here is a link for more info about the CCF (it's just a Wiki link, but it's a good summary, easy to read): Center for Consumer Freedom

Corporate contributors to CCF

Businesses associated with CCF

Individuals associated with CCF

Organizations Attacked by CCF

Just plain scary.

Scary indeed! WOW!!

[Woogie Man]

I figured someone would come along and criticize the CCF. Actually, I agree that they are a lobbyist group that is being funded by industry in some cases, as in their campaign against MADD and to lobby for the fast food industry. They were actually started as a lobbyist for tobacco companies.

Does that make their overview of the HSUS incorrect? Or do you just want to criticize the messenger and assume anything they have to say is worthless? How about HumaneWatch? Would you say the same about them? What about their facts?

What I see about HSUS is that they take in an obscene amount of money that many donors believe is going to help companion animals and it just doesn't. To look at their ads and the wording on their donor cards, one would reasonably think their donation is going to mostly help dogs and cats. Nothing could be further from the truth, as evidenced by their expenditures.

To me, the very name HSUS is a deception to confuse donors into thinking they are somehow linked to our local Humane Societies, which isn't true. It's really not that much different from CKC (Continental Kennel Club) being confused with CKC (Canadian Kennel Club). HSUS is less of an animal welfare group and more of a lobby group to promote an agenda that many donors are in the dark about.

Anyone can feel free to criticize the sources I've used, but no criticism of HSUS's critics will somehow magically give the HSUS clean hands. The bottom line is that HSUS 'appears' top be an animal welfare group, but actually spends less than 2% of its money to support actual shelters and humane societies.

I posted this in another thread...

"In 2006, HSUS spent less than 2% of the money they took in to support actual shelters and humane societies.

Here is the wording from their donation form....

"Thanks to your generous support, we can continue to help dogs, cats and other animals at home and worldwide in 2008 and beyond. Your donation will be used to stop animal cruelty inflicted by individuals and institutions, to rescue and shelter animals during times of disaster, and so much more."

The above from this link, which is an analysis of the HSUS 2006 income tax return. http://www.centennialsharpeiclub.org...ds%20money.pdf

Given their own words, wouldn't you expect more than 2% to be used on shelters and humane societies?"

IMO, it doesn't matter so much who is doing the criticizing, so long as they get their facts straight. If folks are comfortable with the HSUS and donating to them...fine....but many people are deceived by their marketing ploys and have donated money that went for uses other than what the donors thought. Just imagine what $100 million a year could do if it were actually applied to helping companion animals in this country. Some people are aware of the true agenda and donate and that's fine. For many others that are pulled in by slick commercials, the only word that fits what's been done to them is deceived and I have to wonder how many animals would have been saved had their money been applied as they thought it would be. Shameful...just shameful.

[concretegurl]

I've been reading over their site...a lot of it seems very informative and I can readily agree with...a lot of it I'm taking with a big chunk of sea salt...there is a lot to digest here too though. I see no mission statement on their site though everything is kind of just very implied...

[YorkieChick1]

Ann does bring up a good point, you need to investigate what the messengers motives are. It does get confusing though and I do donate to the HSUS with monthy deductions from my checking account so I really want to find out what my money is going to. I realized that my money wasn't just going to the animals, since I knew that the HSUS was trying to change laws regarding the Puppy Mill crisis. I don't just want to be paying high salaries for the executives though. I will have to find more evidence I guess or move my money locally, which is probably the best bet.

[Woogie Man]

Originally Posted by YorkieChick1

Ann does bring up a good point, you need to investigate what the messengers motives are. It does get confusing though and I do donate to the HSUS with monthy deductions from my checking account so I really want to find out what my money is going to. I realized that my money wasn't just going to the animals, since I knew that the HSUS was trying to change laws regarding the Puppy Mill crisis. I don't just want to be paying high salaries for the executives though. I will have to find more evidence I guess or move my money locally, which is probably the best bet.

I totally get what you and Ann are saying. It just seems that everything critical I find about the HSUS comes from either the CCF or HumaneWatch. I haven't seen anything fact based to dispute the info though, and much of it comes from HSUS's tax returns. There's clearly a bias, but are they factually wrong?

I will say that Charity Navigator has downgraded HSUS from 4 stars to 3 and has downgraded HSUS's international division from 3 stars to 1 (their lowest rating).

I think we can all agree that we want our donations to be wisely used. There is too much money going to the big 3 animal welfare groups (HSUS, ASPCA and Best Freinds) for there not to be substantial results. These three groups together bring in more than $200 million annually....way too much money on too important a cause to just assume everything is being done in a way that we might like to think.