I am a member of the HSUS a
Cbain- are you talking about your local humane society- which is great to support- or the actual HSUS?
Most people don't realize- the HSUS, which runs an excellent campaign for donations, is a very shady organization that actually wants to decimate pet ownership within the United States within the next 50 years- or better put- they want no animals kept as pets within the next 50 years. This includes, but is not limited to, cats, dogs, birds, exotics, etc.
Despite its wonderful ad campaign- and come on, who doesn't tear up to Sarah McLachlan and sad puppy dogs and kitties in cages, they give less then 1% of their donations to actual shelters.
The best site to learn more about HSUS is probably Humanewatch.org.
Here is good info regarding HSUS on Humanewatch...
"HSUS deceives pet lovers by running ads that show abandoned and abused dogs and cats, yet it gives only 1 percent of the money it raises to pet shelters, according to its own tax returns.
Shelter professionals agree that there is a lot of confusion regarding national animal charities' level of support for local animal shelters. In fact, a poll of animal shelter professionals found that
71% percent believe it “misleads people into thinking it is associated with local animal shelters.”
Even HSUS donors feel deceived once they learn the truth.
Where does the money go? To fund a pension plan. To employ dozens of lawyers. According to one watchdog,
46 percent of HSUS’s budget is overhead, while the American Institute for Philanthropy calculates that HSUS spends as little as half of its budget on programs—
earning HSUS a “D” grade.
Just as many people “buy local,” please
give local and support a pet shelter near you. Your help could be as simple as donating time, money, or supplies such as towels and blankets. But everyone can help by spreading the “give local” message to their friends and family."
I also wanted to comment real quickly on HSUS and their issues with exotics- you do realize if HSUS had their way, we never would have HAD our breed, right? They believe no exotics- from the smallest sugar glider to ferret to the Serval to the monk to the lion should exist within a pet owner's home. Oddly enough- even though you might agree because of the photos/anti-exotic ownership push in this country- most exotics are well loved, spoiled and pampered in their pet owner's home and the typical tiger owner does not keep one in a teeny tiny cage. Then again, they also won't be looking for the spotlight in order to protect their animals so you won't see them on the news or in the HSUS's spotlight. Also, any photos you see on AR sites need to be taken with a grain of salt. A photo of an exotic in a small cage? To me and you- horrific! However- you don't know the bigger picture. Often, they will stage photos- for example, put the big cat in its holding cell (a lot of the large predators have holding cells to go into while the owner is cleaning the actual real enclosure, putting food down, etc) and snap a picture- put it online and voila! It looks like the poor thing is suffering in a teeny tiny enclosure.
Anyways, we as pet owners need to be able to look past the AR charades and see the truth for what it is. Is there more we can do to promote animal welfare and responsible pet ownership? Sure- heck yeah! But is donating/supporting the HSUS or PETA (which works hand in hand with HSUS- after all, they have the same goals!) the way to do it? Probably not.
