What is HSUS? To understand its goals, you must examine the beliefs of the leaders, not the campaigns that claim to be for the protection of animals.
“Don’t breed dogs, don’t buy, don’t even accept giveaways” HSUS CEO John Hoyt in a 1991 speech.
“Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cock fighting and dog fighting. Our opponents say that hunting is a tradition. We say traditions can change.” Wayne Pacelle, Quoted in Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Oct. 8, 1991
The current crisis of overpopulation of cats, dogs and other nonhuman animals is a primary concern of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR). Although some controversy exists as to whether forced contraception infringes upon the individual animal’s rights, the AVAR believes this current human-caused tragedy calls for correction in the most humane yet effective manner possible. Moreover, we believe the overpopulation crisis is of such grave magnitude presently that the breeding of any cats, dogs, rabbits or others, regardless of whether they are mixed breed or so-called purebred animals, should be limited to that necessary
to ensure survival of the species. Position statement on Castration and Spaying of Companion Animals from the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR) – merged with HSUS to become Humane Society Veterinary Association (HSVA).
“..your everyday meat-eaters and cosmetics users; they are not vivisectors, they are not slaughterhouse operators, and they have basic feelings of compassion. But they are accustomed to eating, wearing, and using animal products, and they need to be convinced to give them up. They can be won over—slowly but surely they are being won over—…..” Michael Markarian. Executive VP Humane Society of the United States; Past President, Fund for Animals; Board member Institute for Animals and Society.
“Having hunters oversee wildlife,” says Pacelle “…is like having Dracula guard the blood bank.”
Wayne Pacelle, as quoted in Animal Rights and Welfare by Jeanne Williams, pg. 127 (1991)
“To the extent that the states placate hunters and ignore the wishes of non-hunters, there will be increasing numbers of wildlife policy questions settled by politicians and voters.”
Wayne Pacelle, Forging a New Wildlife Paradigm: Integrating Animal Protection Values (1998)
As a teenager, I often expressed concerns about animals. Many times, my friends pointed out the obvious inconsistencies in my arguments, since I professed concern for animals, but still ate them. Wayne Pacelle, the Vegan.com Interview 1998
When asked if he envisioned a future without pets, “If I had my personal view, perhaps that might take hold. In fact, I don’t want to see another dog or cat born.” Wayne Pacelle quoted in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 266.
“I don’t have a hands-on fondness for animals…To this day I don’t feel bonded to any non- human animal. I like them and I pet them and I’m kind to them, but there’s no special bond between me and other animals.” Wayne Pacelle quoted in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 251.
“The definition of obscenity on the newsstands should be extended to many hunting magazines.” Wayne Pacelle, quoted in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 265.
We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. . One generation and out. We have no problem with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.” Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP of Humane Society of the US, formerly of Friends of Animals and Fund for Animals, Animal People, May, 1993
“If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would.” Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP Humane Society of the US (HSUS), formerly of Friends of Animals and Fund for Animals,
Associated Press, Dec 30, 1991
“We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States … We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state. Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP Humane Society of the US (HSUS), formerly of Friends of Animals and Fund for Animals, Full Cry Magazine, Oct 1, 1990.
“I find the distinction between animal welfare and animal rights less useful than I once did. The difference between animal welfare and animal rights on a range of issues, such as the use of animals in circuses, fur, rodeo, puppy mills, trapping, and hunting, is a distinction without a difference. We want to create a humane society that takes into account the interests of animals and that eliminates the gratuitous harm by humans. If HSUS differs from other groups markedly, it may differ in tactics, but less in ideology.” Wayne Pacelle. Interview with Kim Stallwood in Speaking Out for Animals, 1994.
“I have been arrested many times, and I have led hunt protests in the field all across the country, but I decided that the best way for me to use my skills was in other arenas. I firmly believe there is a place for civil disobedience in our movement. I don’t think HSUS needs to contribute substantially to civil disobedience. We need not undermine it, but we need not contribute to it.” Wayne Pacelle. Interview with Kim Stallwood in Speaking Out for Animals, 1994.
“We have found that civil disobedience and direct action has been powerful in generating massive attention in our communities … and has been very effective in traumatizing our targets.”
JP Goodwin, Committee to Abolish the Fur Trade, National Animal Rights Convention ’97, June 27, 1997, now employed by the Humane Society of the United States
My goal is the abolition of all animal agriculture. Statement made on “AR-Views,” an animal- rights Internet discussion group, J P Goodwin, HSUS Grassroots Coordinator while executive director of the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
“I try to see where people are and give them encouragement to get to a place where they view animals not as tools for research or game to be harvested, but as individual beings that have the same spark of life that all of us have.” Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society under fire in 50th year. Post-Gazette National Bureau 2004
“The entire animal rights movement in the United States reacted with unfettered glee at the Ban in England …We view this act of parliament as one of the most important actions in the history of the animal rights movement. This will energize our efforts to stop hunting with hounds.” Wayne Pacelle, CEO, Humane Society of the US (HSUS), London Times, December 26, 2004
It is a romantic ideal to think we can break down all laboratory doors and knock down the walls of factory farms today or tomorrow and free the animals. That simply won’t happen, and to pursue that approach in lieu of more lasting and meaningful types of activism squanders our time, talent, and energy, and in the process hands a strategic opportunity to our opponents.
Looking at the Bigger Picture: Violence, Change, and Public Opinion By Wayne Pacelle and J.P. Goodwin Satya Magazine Interview March 2004
Speaking on civil disobedience. “ I would tell them that if they are arrested, not to accept deals such as probation or fines because we do not want activists relegated to the sidelines. We want activists up at the front. I’d also tell them to use the courts. Instead of trying to get things dismissed, use the courts to make a big media issue. The system wastes tax dollars to prosecute non-violent animal rights activists while people that break minks’ necks and raise foxes walk free. CD is important to re-energize the grassroots animal rights movement. In fact, I think it’s been vital and increasingly effective. It helped Macy’s West close their fur salon, and it may very well help Macy’s East close theirs. I would just say: go out there and do what you feel is right.” The Death of the Fur Industry? The Satya Interview with J.P. Goodwin, founder Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT), HSUS Grassroots Coordinator
If we believe in evolution, then we believe that humans come from other animals and the differences between us and them are differences of degree and not kind,” Wayne Pacelle, Washington Post August 9, 2004, Vegan in the Henhouse.
“Factoring in the cost of sporting arms, licensing, clothing and transportation, he said, there are “more cost-effective” ways to help the needy. Michael Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, questioning programs such as Hunters Feeding the Hungry and Hunters Sharing the Harvest. Article: Deer meat is a welcome treat – Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 2008.
“It’s really about human behavior and less about the animals. Animals for the most part just need to be left alone.” Wayne Pacelle speaking on animal rights, LA Times interview July 2008.
“Our food system has profound consequences for animals, the earth, and our own health, and tragically, we have been eating our way to death and destruction by ingesting products of violence, gluttony and injustice.” Gene Bauer, Vice Chair, Humane USA Board of Directors,Blogging March 26, 2009
“Our food system is terribly inefficient and painfully unhealthy …”. Citizens need to urge our political leaders to support sustainable, plant based agriculture, and we should each strive to obtain healthy vegan food from earth friendly sources.” Gene Bauer, Vice Chair, Humane USA Board of Directors, Blogging January 6, 2009
Response to use of profits from her Vegan restaurant: “Sublime supports organizations that support a vegan lifestyle, including ARFF (Animal Rights Foundation of Florida), PETA, PCRM, and Farm Sanctuary.” Nanci Alexander, Humane USA Board of Directors and member of Physicians for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) quote from interview
When asked about her life’s vision statement: “To keep on helping animals in every way that I possibly can. Everything else is just so unimportant.” Nanci Alexander, Humane USA Board of Directors and member of Physicians for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) quote from interview
“More important than responding emotionally to animals, I think, is respecting them, which means that they ought to be able to live their lives free from human exploitation.” Priscilla Cohn, PhD, Humane USA Board of Directors; founder, director, and president of PNC, Inc. (Pity not cruelty), a group supporting animal contraception. Quoted in People promoting and people opposing animal rights by John M. Kistler
“Over the years I have worked with a number of national organizations such as Fund for Animals, PETA, and the HSUS.” Priscilla Cohn, PhD, Humane USA Board of Directors;
Quoted in People promoting and people opposing animal rights by John M. Kistler 2002
“…if we think about human animals and nonhuman animals, we will come to respect the other inhabitants of this planet, and we will appreciate differences rather than taking a hierarchical view where we consider ourselves superior to all other creatures.” Priscilla Cohn, PhD, Humane USA Board of Directors; Quoted in People promoting and people opposing animal rights by John M. Kistler 2002
“I regard as the opposition all people and groups who place people before animals and nature, and who in policy and praxis manifest anthropocentrism, and who see animals and nature as commodities/resources created for man’s use.” Dr. Michael Fox, senior scholar at HSUS and former Vice President Quoted in People promoting and people opposing animal rights by John
- Kistler 2002
“Thus, the worldview of rational materialism uses science to sanctify and preserve the status quo for those values and virtues that are the enemy of animals and of our humanity.” Dr. Michael Fox, senior scholar at HSUS and former Vice President Quoted in People promoting and people opposing animal rights by John M. Kistler 2002
“Stop eating animals, it’s the number one thing. If that sounds too enormous, use basic common sense, remove one animal from your diet for a month. If you’re feeling good and positive, remove another animal next month.” Mary Max, HSUS Board of Directors, Humane USA Board of Directors, member Advisory Board of New York League of Humane Voters, founder of Kind Green Planet, quoted in Greenpoint Gazette interview, October 2008
“Even though people may not have someone in their family fighting in Iraq, American soldiers are seen in the news. But people are not being bombarded with images of cows, sheep, pigs and chickens being abused.” Mary Max, HSUS Board of Directors, Humane USA Board of Directors, member Advisory Board of New York League of Humane Voters, founder of Kind Green Planet, quoted in Greenpoint Gazette interview, October 2008
The HSUS mobilizes people of conscience to drive an agenda of social reform for animals. Anita
- Coupe, Esq., HSUS Board of Directors Chair.
Zoos are becoming facsimiles – or perhaps caricatures – of how animals once were in their natural habitat. If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all. Dr. Michael Fox, senior scholar at HSUS and former Vice President Quoted in Sierra, November-December 1990
There has been a general tendency among humans — and a specific inclination among scientists and theologians — to draw a very sharp line between humans and other animals while disregarding significant analogies and areas of overlap. As a result, ethical standards have been developed with little or no consideration for sentient beings other than human beings, based on certain features possessed by humans but not other animals. David O. Wiebers, M.D., HSUS Board of Directors Quoted in Healing Society’s Relationship with Animals: A Physician’s View
While fireworks are enjoyable for many people, they can be devastating for animals. The loud booms and cracks frighten most animals sending many of them into a frenzy. The cracking of fireworks can be so traumatic that the result is intense stress and fear with possible long-lasting anxiety effects. The question is whether people can be entertained in ways that do not produce fear, injury, or death to other living beings. Paula Kislak, DVM, Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, HSUS Board of Directors Quoted in StopFireworks Campaign
Nonhumans are, and always have been, systematically left out of election debates and platforms. We wonder how it is that life can only revolve around one species and the interests of the millions of other species aren’t even worthy of notice by a presidential candidate. We call this “speciesism,” which is a prejudice against other species. This assumes that we humans are the pinnacle of the evolutionary scale. Nonhumans don’t vote, but our children don’t either. Yet, when it comes to all the rhetoric about protecting the downtrodden, the vulnerable and those whose interests are often overlooked, those that are the most vulnerable aren’t even in the discussion. Paula Kislak, DVM, Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, HSUS Board of Directors Quoted in Animal protection should have higher campaign profile, Northern Virginia Journal, September 2000.
Most people never see real animals dying nowadays, in modern society. People … wear and eat [animals] and contribute to such violence … every day … and the fact is, I think they should be shown. I mean it is violent. I mean, there’s no problem looking at some freshly picked vegetables. Persia White. HSUS Board of Directors, Sea Shepherd Society Board of Directors, Celebrity activist and vegan, Quoted in PETA Fur is Murder campaign, PETA website
All animals will not only be not shot, they will be protected — not only from people but as much as possible from each other. Prey will be separated from predator, and there will be no overpopulation or starvation because all will be controlled by sterilization or implant.” Cleveland Amory, founder of The Fund For Animals, describing his ideal world, in Sierra, June 1992.
“Raising 10 billion land animals in the United States annually for food is simply not a sensible plan of action,” Pacelle wrote. “The science is clear that a diet that is primarily plant-based is better for our personal health, and it’s obviously better for animals and the environment.” Wayne Pacelle. A Humane Nation blog October 8, 2009
“We don’t want any of these animals to be raised and killed [for food] … unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of waiting until we have the opportunity to get rid of the entire industry.” Miyun Park, former HSUS Vice President for Farm Animal Welfare, October 2006, Animals and Society Institute conference