Don’t confuse HSUS with the ‘real’ Humane Society

October 8, 2009 by John McCoy

This morning, while sitting around doing absolutely nothing else (Hey, I’m on vacation!), I saw a television commercial for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

The commercial concentrated on HSUS’ animal-rescue efforts. Problem is, animal rescue constitutes only a small portion of what the organization actually does. Most of its money gets spent on political activism — protesting animal-research facilities, filing lawsuits to stop hunting on public lands, and advocating for animal-rights legislation.

What particularly galls me is how HSUS, an animal rights organization, has so smoothly co-opted the term “Humane Society” for itself. All too often, in media reports that concern animal issues, HSUS gets identified as “The Humane Society.” That title rightly belongs to the American Humane Association, a 130-year-old Denver-based group that genuinely advocates for animal welfare and not animal rights.

Anyone interested in seeing how the two organizations differ — especially when it comes to hunting, pet ownership, animal-based research and so on — can check out HSUS’ policies here and AHA’s here. The dissimilarities might surprise you.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 11:57 am and is filed under Animal Rights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Don’t confuse HSUS with the ‘real’ Humane Society”

Humane Society of the U.S. is Not Your Local Animal Shelter | Pennsylvania Gun Rights says:

October 19, 2009 at 11:41 am

[...] You may be one of the tens of millions of people on the mailing list for the Humane Society of the United States who believes your donation is going to help rescued dogs and cats. After all, that’s what they want you to think with their commercials featuring abused animals and shelters. [...]
HSUS’s Radical Agenda | Snowflakes in Hell says:

October 19, 2009 at 12:05 pm

[...] is once again trying to play the general public in exchange for donations with commercials featuring abused animals and shelters even though they give only a pittance to the local shelters. Most of the money raised actually [...]