(In response to “Critics question spending by Humane Society of the U.S.,” Jan. 9) Animals face threats requiring action in our neighborhoods, at local shelters and rescues, at city hall, and in state capitols.
Animals also need defenders with national scope and stature because some problems are too pervasive and entrenched for any other answer. Out of that realization, the Humane Society of the United States was created more than a half-century ago.
That historical summary is relevant because a group calling itself the Center for Consumer Freedom has been attacking this founding mission of the HSUS and our 58 years of proud work to prevent animal suffering — for all animals, including dogs, cats, farm animals, wildlife and animals used in testing and research.
A word about the source of these attacks: The CCF has been exposed repeatedly in reputable news media as a for-hire corporate front group. It is the brainchild of a Washington, D.C. lobbyist, who is behind the founding of two ancillary anti-HSUS projects.
It is a ploy, and curious readers who want to know more can find a wealth of credible exposes compiled on the web about CCF, the people behind it and their motives.
For our part, we’ll set the record straight about us. The animal welfare cause is spreading in the U.S. — both in the number of people who won’t stand for mistreatment of animals and the scope of their concerns.
Any number of companies, including giants like Unilever and JCPenney and Compass Group, have taken positive steps for animals. Ditto companies like Burger King and Ben & Jerry’s. States like California and Ohio and Arizona have moved to reduce animal suffering. So did voters recently in Missouri.
The list goes on and on — but readers should know that the common denominator in every one of these advances for animals was the engagement of the HSUS, its affiliates, and our mainstream values of kindness and humane treatment for animals.
Additionally, we provided direct care for more than 66,000 animals in 2011, including those housed at our largest-in-the-nation network of sanctuaries.
Whether at the negotiating table or the political arena or the courtroom, whether offering direct services to needy communities or expert support for our fellow animal protection groups, the HSUS fulfills its founding promise to make ours a more compassionate world for all animals.
Last year, we achieved another landmark by joining with the United Egg Producers, which speaks for 87 percent of the entire egg industry, in an agreement that will provide better conditions for more than 250 million laying hens. That’s real progress.
We also recognize that our cause is made of many other organizations, from shelters to rescue and rehabilitation organizations. We have supported their work for animals with a multitude of programs and services as well as $43 million in direct grants since 2005.
Our founders foresaw the needs for an organization that could confront large-scale cruelty and provide national leadership for animals. We’re proud to say that millions of Americans have supported us along the way.
So why the attack by CCF? The group doesn’t play straight with an answer, and it will not disclose who is paying for its services. But given its record as a corporate front group, we can surmise that behind the attacks are moneyed interests who want to slow us down so they can continue to profit from the status-quo mistreatment of animals. If not that, then why don’t these people come clean and tell us who is paying them?
You see, when it comes to cruelty, you are either for it or you are against it.
Michael Markarian is chief program and policy officer at The Humane Society of the United States.
