Does the Humane Society of United States spend donation dollars wisely? (interview, how much)

[no kudzu]

This is from Nathan Winograd's FB page. He is very big in the No Kill movement and is against kill shelters. Do you know any more about this?
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When it comes to profiteering from animal suffering, HSUS is in a class by itself. During Hurricane Katrina, HSUS raised over 30 million dollars but spent only seven million before CEO Wayne Pacelle announced “Mission: Accomplished” and headed out of town, leaving behind thousands of animals in need who were then shipped off to kill shelters nationwide (they had a policy of not working with No Kill shelters), sticking the money Americans donated specifically for Hurricane Katrina animals into HSUS bank accounts.

Moderator cut: copyright violation, 1-2 sentences and link

Surprised? You shouldn't be. It's business as usual at HSUS: Betrayal & Deceit at the Humane Society of the United States : Nathan J Winograd

[zugor]

Yeah, I've seen this up close and personal at a puppy mill raid back in 2007. Here is what they said on their website:

November 2007: Soon after the investigation was released, The HSUS, along with local animal welfare groups, assisted as law enforcement authorities raided Horton's Pups puppy mill and removed more than 700 dogs from deplorable conditions. Horton was charged and convicted of 14 counts of animal cruelty in 2008, but was allowed to keep a maximum of 250 dogs. The conviction was appealed twice and was upheld both times.

This makes it sound like HSUS did most of the work but in fact it was the local rescues and some from further away who did 98% of the work. Some people from HSUS did show up with their big van midway through the second day. They were in suits and of course the TV stations interviewed them standing in front of their van while those of us in jeans and work boots spent our time doing what was needed to process the dogs. On the second day I was there from about 9 am until 11 pm with half a dozen other members of my humane society and I spent about 6 hours on the second day pressure washing crates, outside on a cold Nov. night, that we had to use over and over again as the dogs were brought from Horton's place to our staging area at the local firehouse. There actually were over 1,100 dogs and pups, my little local group took 10 and even that many was a challenge.

Angels of Assisi, based in Roanoke, took a great many of the animals that needed major medical care including eye removals, limb amputations, etc. They also took a number of the pregnant females and I happened to be there one day about a month after the raid and got to be a puppy holder/warmer as Dr. K did a C-section on a momma.

Despite all the funds HSUS raised from this Angels of Assisi got not one penny from them to cover any of their costs and Dr. K stated so at the trial.

This huge raid was instrumental in changing VA's laws regarding commercial kennels and significantly lowering the number of breeding age dogs that a single place as allowed to keep.

While HSUS may do some good when it comes to national or even state level legislation, so little of the money that they take in goes to directly help animals or indirectly through rescue organizations that jump in to situations like this or the hurricanes and do both the immediate and long term work that it takes to help critters in need.

[no kudzu]

Thank you for telling your story and for helping as you did.

[AbbyJaneway]

This is kind of a pet peeve of mine. The HSUS is not connected to any local Humane Society shelters, like the one I volunteer at. We find that people are generally under the impression that donating to HSUS will help our HS, and it doesn't. And I'm always suspicious when I'm at one of the chain pet stores and get asked at the checkout if I want to donate to a shelter. I always ask which one, and if they can't name a local shelter, forget it! Plus, my HS is a no-kill shelter. I can't tell you how many people ask, after hearing that I work there, questions like "How long do the animals have to find a home?" or "How do you handle it, isn't it just SO sad?" because they assume we're a kill shelter. We even let the kill shelters in our area transfer their animals to us if we have room instead of euthanizing them. I wish people knew how much more good their money does when given to a local shelter than a national organization.

[no kudzu]

Originally Posted by AbbyJaneway

This is kind of a pet peeve of mine. The HSUS is not connected to any local Humane Society shelters, like the one I volunteer at. We find that people are generally under the impression that donating to HSUS will help our HS, and it doesn't. And I'm always suspicious when I'm at one of the chain pet stores and get asked at the checkout if I want to donate to a shelter. I always ask which one, and if they can't name a local shelter, forget it! Plus, my HS is a no-kill shelter. I can't tell you how many people ask, after hearing that I work there, questions like "How long do the animals have to find a home?" or "How do you handle it, isn't it just SO sad?" because they assume we're a kill shelter. We even let the kill shelters in our area transfer their animals to us if we have room instead of euthanizing them. I wish people knew how much more good their money does when given to a local shelter than a national organization.

Cannot be repeated too much. Keep your dollars in your own community.

[Delahanty]

Does any "animal services" organization use donations wisely, and use them wisely all of the time? Probably not. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I do not financially support these organizations because, like many others, they often evolve into a "business model" like any other that ceases to put its charges first. Don't get me started on the problems DH and I had trying to "adopt" a cat last year. At one point, I called the honcho at our local Lollypop Farm and reported what we saw and experienced: workers who behaved as if the establishment was their own personal domain, and who'd achieved a level of self-importance about their capacity there. During one visit, the "adoption counselor" refused to show us or another interested party a cat who appeared to be shy. She had her head in the cage and was cooing and stroking the cat, but told us that he needed to settle in. When I reported her, I was told by the mortified head of the agency that, when the cats are sent to the off-site places, they are deemed to be ready for adoption at that time. In addition, a cat's being shy may have turned off a number of people, but we would have accepted that as an endearing personality trait as, I'm sure, the other party would have. Due to this woman, that cat may well have lost an opportunity to go to a loving home.

Another incident which ended up getting airplay on a local radio show was one in which LF refused to allow the adoption of a 12-year-old cat because it was going to be a mouser and live in a barn. The woman who was interested called someone in authority and that lame policy was reinforced by that person. In addition, they were also concerned about.........the mice. When the woman called again to inquire about the cat about a week later, she was told that he'd been euthanized. That's when she called the local stations, TV "troubleshooters," and wrote a letter-to-the editor. Interestingly, the agency had no response. So a cat, who would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven in a new home was, instead, killed by the agency supposedly in place to protect him, because they didn't want him in a barn, on a multi-acre farm, and were concerned about the vermin there.


Let me be perfectly clear: I realize that many (if not most) of the animal "problems" society has are, in fact, people problems. However, "animal welfare" agencies are not always concerned about the welfare of those animals, and I'll be darned if I'm going to be the one paying for it.