Yesterday, I came home from a road trip and started sorting through the pile of mail accumulated in my absence. Having only been away for two days of postal service, I only had seven credit card offers (I, my friends, am “guaranteed” a credit card -maybe with as much as $300 credit - less roughly $239 in fees), a couple of dozen offers for cars (”never to be repeated” prices) and a New Year’s gift from the Humane Society of the United States.
Huh?
Unless you’re a new reader, you probably know I’ve never been very admiring of my “friends” at the HSUS or their president and CEO, Wayne Pacelle. It’s nothing personal. I’ve never met Pacelle, and I admire his skills as an administrator, leader and highly-competent pitch man for his organization.
What I don’t like is the fact his ultimate goal is to stop the consumption of meat or poultry and pass legislation that takes away my right to choose what I eat.
OK, I also don’t like it when the HSUS portrays itself as the great salvation for abandoned or abused animals when they have been, in fact, stone cold killers of pets that came under their care. They might not like that description, but there are sufficient court records out there that make me feel quite comfortable in the characterization.
Today, I’m a bit fired up at their having sent me a “delightful set of all-occasion note cards” even if they do represent a “unique gift from me (Pacelle) and all of us on staff here at The Humane Society of the United States.”
Granted, they’re nice cards, but the cash they raise isn’t going to help pets the same way my contribution to the Paralyzed Veterans of America goes toward people injured in the service of our country.
I recognize the powerful mental imagery in writing about “puppies, kittens, cats and dogs who have been cut, shot, burned and even killed by sick individuals”. Their telling me my participation in the “2008 New Year Campaign” is important for “so many dogs and cats whose lives are hanging in the balance right now - who need our help - yours and mine” would have me reaching for my checkbook in most instances.
Honestly, I’m not certain I’d want the HSUS looking after my lost pet.
Last year some of their “rescued animals” got a quick injection in a panel truck and wound up stuffed in a dumpster behind a grocery store. They didn’t get any chance at being placed in kind and loving homes. The HSUS workers told veterinarians and their staffers otherwise.
There is a nationwide problem with feral cats, stray dogs and such, but a relatively small amount of the millions of dollars the HSUS raises is actually directed toward caring for animals or spay and neuter efforts.
Their fundraising efforts siphon off the money from well-meaning people who don’t know the HSUS doesn’t represent local shelters. Personally, I’d like to see donations sent to local humane society shelters where animals are actually cared for until there’s no alternative but to humanely destroy them.
Unfortunately, those shelters don’t have creative writers or marketing budgets to fund fancy membership campaigns. They’re generally too occupied with the animals that wind up in their care to have time to run such efforts, even if they did have the money.
I don’t even disagree with the HSUS on some issues. I hate the idea of puppy mills, cockfighting and dog fighting (I don’t like bullfighting, either), and I believe the idea of remote hunting is one of the worst ever. I don’t know a single person - hunter, angler, or otherwise - who thinks it’s OK to abuse animals. Incidentally, that group of acquaintances includes carnivores, vegetarians, hunters, Republicans, Democrats, Catholics, Protestants, Jews and the spiritually indifferent.
It’s the HSUS method that agitates me.
The HSUS has the right to raise money and try to convince every man, woman and child in America that they’d be better off on a vegetarian diet. That’s a right I believe to be worth defending.
My problem is their being disingenuous about their goals.
