What You May Not Know about PETA, the ASPCA and the HSUS

I know many of you may have already sent in donations to some of the major “pet charities” this year for the holidays, hoping it would help save animals. There are three main groups, as I think they should be referred to rather than charities: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

What I want to say is simple: PLEASE DO NOT DONATE TO THESE “CHARITIES”. Instead, I ask you donate to local animal shelters (kill or even no-kill local because those animals need help, too) where you can witness what is occurring, where you can actually take food or bedding and see animals. If you cannot adopt from a no-kill or a kill shelter, then please donate items to animal shelters and rescues or even gift cards. Many cities have local Humane Societies and local SPCAs. These are not the same thing as the large groups that you see advertised on television.

HSUS:
The following is from HSUS Shelter Spending in Your State (please click on the hyperlinks to see the websites shared throughout this article):

As we have previously reported, only about 1% of the budget of the deceptively named Humane Society of the United States goes to local pet shelters, and the organization doesn't operate any shelters of its own. Not that you would learn these facts from HSUS’s ads, which are full of dogs and cats. An examination of HSUS’s 2013 tax return (the most recent available) reveals that although the extreme animal-liberation group took in more than $130 million in revenues, very little went to local pet shelters. How much went to help pet shelters in your state? Take a look at the map below (PDF). The answer may shock you. Of its $130 million in revenues, HSUS gave less than $10,000 to help local pet shelters care for pets in 29 states. Shelters in 11 states – Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Nevada, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wyoming – didn’t receive a single dime from HSUS to help them care for pets. If only 1% of HSUS’s budget goes to local pet shelters, where does the other 99% go? A few examples of wasteful HSUS spending:  In the past two years, HSUS has put $50 million into Caribbean tax shelters instead of pet shelters.  HSUS paid more than $6 million to settle a federal racketeering and bribery lawsuit brought against it and two of its in-house lawyers.  HSUS CEO and President Wayne “I don’t love animals” Pacelle, received more than $400,000 in total compensation while the rest of staff pulled in nearly $44 million more. Instead of funding the lavish lifestyles of HSUS execs who are socking away your donations in off-shore hedge funds, consider donating to pet shelters in your area.

ASPCA:
From Nathan Winograd we learn about Oreo, a dog that was treated for injuries sustained from being thrown out a window, only to be killed for supposedly becoming aggressive, while the money was pocketed from her rescue attempts that were basically blocked. We also learn that the ASPCA has been fundamental in blocking laws that could save up to 25,000 pets a year. The ASPCA is not a “no-kill” organization, either. None of the big three I will be discussing in this article are no-kill, but rather heavy-kill. Sadly, the ASPCA was founded by a wonderful man named Henry Bergh. But greed and power-hunger has taken over in the decades since his founding of the organization. It needs to revert back to what it was meant to be.

When I tried to search for how much money from the ASPCA goes to animals I got this error page. Not sure what the page is supposed to say, perhaps it is supposed to say how much money the ASPCA gets from people conned like myself, but it is private, so who knows. At least tax statements do not typically lie and those are public.

ASPCA and HSUS:
This informative article by Katherine Ainsworth pretty much says it all. Please take the time to read it carefully. I will highlight some key points below.

ASPCA:
The President and CEO of the ASPCA is Matthew Bershadker and he is making more than $566,000 a year. The ASPCA gave just 0.045% of its multi-million dollar donations to local shelters. “In 2009, the ASPCA spent more than 19 million dollars on advertising, a number which has only increased in recent years.” “The ASPCA themselves claims they saved 4,000 dogs last year. Their IRS statement for 2012 shows $226 million dollars in gross receipts. Let’s be generous and say the ASPCA gives half its donations to the animals. That would mean each dog was given $28,250 of care and supplies.” “The ASPCA has been part of a RICO case for quite some time. RICO stands for “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations”.

HSUS:
Per Wayne Pacell, President of HSUS, “I don’t love animals or think they’re cute.” He does claim to “respect” them but not enough to respect their right to live. The HSUS stance on the Michael Vick animal abuse: “The print ad read: ‘…make a special gift to help the Humane Society of the United States care for the dogs seized in the Michael Vick case… your gift will be put to use right away to care for these dogs.’ And since the dogs were in the public spotlight and clearly needed help, the donations immediately began to pour in, as usual. However, this one rare time, HSUS was called on its crap. The New York Times reported accurately that not only was HSUS not providing any care whatsoever to the Vick dogs but that Wayne Pacelle went on the record saying the dogs should be immediately euthanized. After being caught with their hand in the doggy cookie jar, HSUS was forced to halt all Michael Vicks-related donation requests.”

The HSUS raised over 34 million dollars for the pets of New Orleans. However, only $7 million of that $34 million was spent on New Orleans. The remaining $27 million remains unaccounted for a decade later.

The HSUS operates no shelters.

PETA
PETA has to be the most hypocritical group in existence. I am not a huge fan of the Daily Mail in the UK but these numbers are fairly accurate given they have been duplicated in other articles that are reliable and from government documents correctly sourced. This article by the Daily Mail states that PETA had killed 2,000 pets in 2013, achieving a staggering 82% kill rate for its shelter (or rather slaughterhouse). They have killed 31,000 animals since 1998 (this was in 2014). 'This delusional animal rights group is talking out of both sides of its mouth – on one side preaching animal rights, while on the other signing the death warrant of 82 percent of cats and dogs in its care. Labeling PETA as hypocritical would be the understatement of the year-- Will Coggin from the Center for Consumer Freedom.

'We could become a no-kill shelter immediately. It means we wouldn't do as much work”—Ingrid Newkirk, who also brags about killing hundreds of animals herself, even going into work early to engage in such activities.

“According to VDAS, in 2010 discovered that 84 percent of the animals PETA took in were killed within 24 hours.”

Why PETA Kills and PETA Kills Animals are very informative sites. Nathan Winograd’s website provides a lot of information about PETA. The first link provided (Why PETA Kills) is actually his website as well. One of my browsers tried to say the site may not be safe but I can assure you information from Winograd is safe (I hope PETA is not behind his site saying it may not be safe to view, interesting!).

Someone may be asking why PETA, who is known for boycotting Burger King over meat, would be killing household pets. Simply put, PETA’s founder Ingrid Newkirk believes that animals being pets is basically torture and that they are better off dead than living (sound familiar from above, right?). Animals have a purpose, especially domesticated animals which are first and foremost companion animals. They are meant to be part of our lives. They are meant to be loved. Some are meant to be companions for those with disabilities—diabetes, PTSD, epilepsy, physical challenges, etc. Please educate yourself and do NOT support these groups. PLEASE donate to local organizations you know you can trust and that do truly put the animals first. Please share this article with every animal lover you know. Together we can educate the public and stop these groups from getting millions from those who need it most—the animals. They either need to be eradicated or have new leadership put in place. Hopefully this will also lead to the US becoming a no-kill nation.

A Few Tips for Dog Owners New and Old

I want to offer some tips I have learned while caring for dogs over the years. I see it too often that people adopt a dog only to return it hours, days or sometimes years later. Once you commit to a dog, it should be a lifetime commitment. I would rather see a dog go back to a shelter than be abused or killed by selfish owners, but so many times dogs are returned over incredibly petty reasons. My mom has a dog that was returned to a kill shelter once or twice for supposedly “digging”. She has never caught her digging out of the yard or even digging holes in the middle of the yard. However, she has destroyed multiple dog crates (kennels). She was not going back to the pound as death would likely be inevitable. She purchased an aluminum crate through Cabela’s for Lily. It is a crate sometimes used for hunting dogs as it can be attached to the bed of a pickup. Lily is no bird dog but she has learned to love her crate. She sleeps in it at night and stays in it while her mom is at work. Below is a photo of what it looks like:

Sadly, I do not think Cabela’s still carries these crates but if you go to smile.amazon.com (using Amazon Smile means you can donate part of your purchase to your favorite local animals shelters) and search for “aluminum dog crates” you can find her crate (it is pricey at over $600 for an extra-large crate) but there are some similar aluminum crates that would likely offer the same ability and stability as aluminum is much more durable than any of the steel wire crates. Another idea I learned from attending adoption events is using a small metal pail along with what is called a “double bolt snap” for a water source. The double bolt snap can typically be found in a farm store in the horse department. Below is a photo of this set up that helps provide water while taking up minimal space and preventing spillage:

Finally, thanks to a worker at Home Depot, I learned how to keep one of my boys from digging up under the fence and through the wooden planks. Below is a photo of the steel lath that prevents dogs from digging. It can be found in the lumber department at Home Depot and is about $7 dollars per sheet. A sheet is about 2 feet by 8 feet. You can trim to fit. You can place it on the ground and then cover with dirt to camouflage it from view. I also placed cement cinder blocks on top of the mesh since my boy is so strong and I figured he may try to pull it from up under the fence. I also lined the wood in the fence with it since he will scratch the fence when he sees bikes, cats and other dogs. It keeps him protected as well as anything outside the fence. He is a sweet dog but easily stimulated by things outside of his yard area. To connect the mesh to the fence, I used “U” shaped nails. I also reinforced it with staples via staple gun. The mesh works because it hurts their paws but it has not caused their feet any cuts or other injuries. However, it will cause your hands damage if you handle the edges so use gloves when handling it and keep it away from younger children. Here is a link to the steel lath: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-27-in-x-8-ft-Steel-Lath-2-5-METAL-LATH/202093395 Below is a photo of one sheets:

I hope some of these tips will help people to keep pets they are thinking about rehoming or taking to a shelter due to digging, crate issues, etc. I also hope it will help keep pets safe and hydrated if they are crated. If you know of any other novel ideals please feel free to share them with this blog.

For Kip...

This posting is for Kip and the numerous dogs out there that are alive and like Kip and for those now gone forever yet still like Kip. Kip was a precious 4 month old puppy in the Arlington, Texas pound. I do not think the facility is worthy of being called a shelter. For several weeks people shared him and pledged for his rescue. He was not available for adoption to the public due to two non-life threatening conditions: demodex mange and entropion. Demodex mange is a non-contagious skin condition that is caused by mites when a dog’s immune system cannot keep the mites at bay. Entropion is an eyelid condition that typically requires surgery that over time can scratch the eye and cause blindness. Both were easy conditions (mange costs about $30 to treat giving daily medication for about a month) that most adopters could take care of themselves cost-wise; however because of these conditions, this dog was deemed unadoptable by the pound vet. He became what is called “rescue only”. This is usually a death sentence even for the sweetest of dogs. Rescues are already overflowing due to so many pounds, calling themselves shelters, killing sometimes as many as 9 out of 10 dogs. However, Kip had a rescue begging for him. He had people pledging money for his rescue. The rescue was located in Virginia, and was not a 501c3 (non-profit registered with the government/can take years to achieve). On behalf of the rescue, Sheila R. tried desperately to rescue this precious baby. She and myself emailed back and forth with them only to basically be given a runaround. Transport and medical care would have been taken care of 100%. But, instead of this pound working with Sheila and the rescue in Virginia, she was told the only rescues allowed to pull this dog were ones that were local, “approved” by the pound AND had to be 501c3—but the real kicker was that the pound refused to give names of rescues, too! The pound would also not allow an approved rescue to pull for the Virginia rescue to take over. Sheila and many others tried in vain to get a local rescue to pull this puppy, making calls and emailing, so that her rescue in turn could get him up to Virginia to get the medical care he needed. After trying for 20 days, Kip was murdered. He did not have to be murdered. He had people who wanted to take care of him and love him. The Arlington, Texas pound made it basically impossible to save this dog; they seemingly got the result they so desired which was for him to be killed. This kind of nonsense needs to stop. Pounds need to stop making it virtually impossible to get animals out and on top of that giving them a short time frame. They need to stop refusing rescues. The Harvey Act in California needs to be nation-wide. It is not that hard to do a reference check on a rescue to see if they are legitimate. Most people want to give animals a good home. For those who do not, who choose to fight animals and abuse animals, we need national and/or state databases just as we do for sex offenders. That would make things so much easier and save lives. We need EVERY life saved. Here is my start, by sharing Kip's story.

PS If anyone would like to view copies of the emails please let me know and I will post them.