Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

Despite the words humane society on its letterhead, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is not affiliated with your local animal shelter. Despite the omnipresent dogs and cats in its fundraising materials, its not an organization that runs spay/neuter programs or takes in stray, neglected, and abused pets. And despite the common image of animal protection agencies as cash-strapped organizations dedicated to animal welfare, HSUS has become the wealthiest animal rights organization on earth.

HSUS is big, rich, and powerful, a humane society in name only. And while most local animal shelters are under-funded and unsung, HSUS has accumulated $113 million in assets and built a recognizable brand by capitalizing on the confusion its very name provokes. This misdirection results in an irony of which most animal lovers are unaware: HSUS raises enough money to finance animal shelters in every single state, with money to spare, yet it doesnt operate a single one anywhere.

Instead, HSUS spends millions on programs that seek to economically cripple meat and dairy producers; eliminate the use of animals in biomedical research labs; phase out pet breeding, zoos, and circus animal acts; and demonize hunters as crazed lunatics. HSUS spends $2 million each year on travel expenses alone, just keeping its multi-national agenda going.

Raising money is Job One. HSUS will even adopt conflicting positions in order to satisfy individual patrons. Two HSUS donors once wrote to John Hoyt with very different views of the sinking of Icelandic whaling ships by Paul Watsons violent Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the late 980s. In one response, Hoyt agreed with the donor that Watsons actions were wrong, writing: I am unequivocally opposed to any and all acts of violence in the pursuit of efforts to protect animals from abuse and suffering. In the other, he declared that Sea Shepherds work was indeed, a daring and masterful bit of James Bond on behalf of the great whales."

The group completed its animal-rights transformation during the 1990s,changing its personnel in the process. HSUS assimilated dozens of staffers from PETA and other animal-rights groups, even employing John J.P. Goodwin, a former Animal Liberation Front member and spokesman with a lengthy arrest record and a history of promoting arson to accomplish animal liberation.

HSUS is not particularly friendly toward the use of animals as food, either. In 1995, it launched its Eating with a Conscience campaign, directed by Howard Lyman. A strict vegan, Lyman is best known for his 1996 appearance on the Oprah television show, where he tried to scare consumers away from beef by claiming, incorrectly and recklessly, that mad cow disease would make AIDS look like the common cold. In a June 2005 interview, Pacelle said that HSUS is working on a guide to vegetarian eating and emphasized reducing meat consumption as one of HSUSs goals.

During 1998 and 1999, the Humane Society of the United States reported to the IRS that it made small financial contributions toward the operation of WASTE.org, an Internet website that was then the main distribution point for the communiqués of the terrorist Animal Liberation Front (ALF). In addition to hosting the ALFs Frontline mailing list, WASTE.org hosted a list for the HSUS-coordinated Inter Campus Animal Advocacy Network (I-CAAN); the official mailing lists of a Minnesota group called Compassionate Action for Animals (CAA); and mailing lists for approximately a dozen other organizations. CAA, originally called the Animal Liberation League, was started by activist Freeman Wicklund -who has spoken openly about his desire for other activists to embrace the Animal Liberation Front.

Questions remain about HSUSs support of the WASTE server. In 1999 HSUSs operating budget was over $50 million, and it already operated at least four other e-mail lists -- all operated from its own network servers. Why did the group need an outside server for its I-CAAN mailing list? And why use this particular server, one that also happened to host a terrorist groups press operations, instead of one of hundreds of other commercially available services?

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