The HSUS In Its Own Words As Interpreted by Patricia Gail Burnham
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What I was really looking for in the HSUS Annual Report was its financial information. What I found was a single page of financial information and endless pages and references to its activities that were designed to stimulate the reader to donate to it.
he HSUS states its mission as, “We strive to create a humane and sustainable world for all animals – a world that will also benefit people. We seek to forge a lasting and comprehensive change in human consciousness of and behavior toward all animals in order to prevent animal cruelty, exploitation, and neglect and to protect wild habitats and the entire community of life.” (Emphasis mine.) So its mission isn’t to save animals from abuse. It is to change our human consciousness and behavior. This is to be accomplished by advertising, education, legislation, and brain washing. How does The HSUS accomplish its goals? “We seek to achieve our goals through education, advocacy, public policy reform, and the empowerment of our supporters and partners. We do not engage in or support actions that are illegal or violent or that run counter to the basic principles of compassion and respect for others.” That is nice, but it certainly doesn’t have compassion and respect for us, or for farmers, or pet owners, or meat eaters. What does the HSUS say that it does? “We work for animals every day by providing direct care and response during natural and man-made emergencies, educating
the public about animal issues, working in the halls of Congress to create laws to protect animals, and caring for thousands of animals at our direct care centers across the country. We also work through our major campaigns to target large-scale cruelties such as dog fighting and cockfighting, puppy mills, factory farms, unsporting hunting practices, and the fur trade.” That sounds good, but farther on it says, “we raided 16 puppy mills in 2009 and saved more than 3,000 dogs in the process. But even if we managed to double or quadruple the number of raids, that would not be enough to solve the broader problem. We estimate there are more than 10,000 mills in the United States, and that’s why it’s critical that we pass laws to crack down on these operations and also raise awareness with consumers so they don’t purchase dogs from the puppy mill supply chain.” This makes plain its usual split between hands-on help and legislation. It raided 16 puppy mills? Out of 10,000? Give me a break. It isn’t about saving puppy mill dogs. It’s about legislating puppy mills out of business. And with its campaigns for mandatory spay and neuter, non-puppy mill breeders are already being targeted. Its Financial Operations Report for 2009 (The 2010 report isn’t available yet) states its total revenue as 127 million dollars. Its largest single expense was 30 million for fundraising. So it’s spending nearly a quarter of its income for fundraising. No wonder we see so many HSUS ads on TV. Its next largest expense was 26 million for “public advocacy”, which I presume means lobbying for its legislative programs. In 2009 that bought it 121 state laws to further its agenda. It even got one passed in California that banned CONTINUED ON PAGE 136
BY PATRICIA GAIL BURNHAM 72 Dog News