Please do a post on ARNO or Best Friends or Pasado’s Safe Haven next time. They, too, were all there in New Orleans helping to evacuate animals, and are now on the ground, going to addresses where dogs were left behind. After what happened with Katrina, I will not ever donate to the HSUS again. Do you know they were under investigation by the Louisiana attorney general for misuse of funds that were donated after Katrina because they didn’t use them to find owners of rescued animals like they claimed they would. I was with an online group that tracked down owners, and I can tell you, the HSUS did nothing to help me find anyone.

Please don’t confuse the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) with your local, and state humane societies….. They are NOT associated with each other nor do your local humane societies appreciate being linked with HSUS. HSUS and PeTA (among others) are animal rights groups (ARs) and work hand in hand with each other, whereas your local/state humane societies (among others)are animal welfare groups. If you read the agendas for the AR’s you will be very surprised ….. and PeTA’s special videos for different occasions are quite ugly/offense. Most of the $$$$ AR’s collect are for ad’s against pet ownership and administrative costs. BTW – Wayne Pacelle receives 24% of the total monies received from contributions, ($206,000+ for his work at HSUS)…. another large portion goes for lobbyists to pressure state legislatures for anti-pet bills. HSUS is NOT a govt agency, so almost 25% of your contributions goes directly into Pacelle’s pocket… travel is covered under another pot of $$$$. This blog is basically sponsoring HSUS by putting up HSUS links.

“Works for me. “

Does it work for you that they adopt animals from shelters under false pretenses, then kill them?

HSUS isn’t the Humane Society you know and love. They’re a bunch of extremists who use a similar name to deliberately confuse the issue.

HSUS are animal butchers.

Katherine writes: PETA’s headquarters are located in my home town and I am amazed at the good work they do there

Were you okay with their employees picking up dogs from shelters under the guise of getting them adopted, then killing them in the company van and dumping the bodies in area businesses’ dumpsters?

The use of the term “pets” (as in “no pets”) may be causing confusion. Organizations like HSUS and PETA prefer the term “companion animal” because it implies that the animal has an inherent worth separate from their usefulness to humans. Works for me. BTW, anyone who thinks that these two groups are working to eliminate pet ownership need to check out the FAQs at their websites.

PETA’s headquarters are located in my home town and I am amazed at the good work they do there. Their focus is animal protection and care at the local, state, national, and international levels. They donate money and equipment to local animal shelters; offer free dog houses for dogs that don’t have one; run a reduced-fee spay and neuter clinic, to name a few. And the people who work there bring their companion animals to work with them whenever they want.

Perhaps the best idea is to donate to your local shelter or rescue group. Because I have 17 rescues at my house I had to cut down on donations. I chose to drop the national groups and focus on what’s happening in my own community. That way I can check in and see what’s actually going on.
My reasoning comes from my experience with helping out in south Mississippi after Katrina (I showed up alone and without any connection to an organization). The volunteers both locally and from all over the country did the real rescue work – the national organizations weren’t responding to Gulfport / Biloxi/ Pass Christian and all the small godforsaken towns. Of course they did long after Katrina but by then most of the animals not rescued had suffered and died…

HSUS takes credit (and money) for a lot of things they don’t personally do. They were under investigation over their operations during Hurricane Katrina. They also raised money for Michael Vick’s dogs (which never benefitted the dogs. The money HSUS raises goes into lobbying politicians to pass mandatory forced sterilization bills. (Since the city of Los Angeles passed theirs, shelter euthanasias are up past numbers seen last in 2002.) These laws do not reduce shelter euthanasia, they INCREASE it. But since HSUS and PeTA’s goals are actually the elimination of companion animals (Wayne Pacelle – One Generation and OUT) they are reaching their actual goals. No pets.

I am so glad they were able to calmly and safely get all the animals that needed to be evacuated out. I don’t care what bad things people can say about them, this is a good thing. I would not leave my own pets behind, and with four cats and two dogs, I would have a hard time finding a place that would take us all if we needed to evacuate (though we would just go to family, so there wouldn’t be a real problem). I am glad that there are organizations like this out there to help keep families with their pets in times of emergencies.

The AKC has a disaster relief fund now, which is used to support
search and rescue dogs and all pets during a disaster and when they offer
help, it is real HELP — not a clumsy self-promotional effort.

https://www.akc.org/donations/index.cfm

In normal times, give to your local animal shelters. They will nearly
always use the money for actual animal care. Please investigate any
charity you send money to after a disaster, Wait a few days and find
an organization based in the area that needs help.