It appears two more television news stations have discovered the truth about the deceptively named Center for Consumer Freedom and have removed their stories critical of The Humane Society of the United States.Hawaiian station KHON-2 last week and Wichita station KSN-TV on Friday aired reports about how The HSUS supposedly misleads the public into thinking our donations go to local animal shelters. The story was spoon-fed to them by David Martosko of the CCF.
But after being contacted by The HSUS, the Hawaiian station removed the story from its Web site. It appears the Wichita station has followed suit, as no hint of the story can be found on its Web site.
If this sounds familiar, it's because the same thing happened with a Georgia news station in May 2009.
As I noted after Atlanta station WSB-TV pulled its story, "news organizations don't typically cave to threats of lawsuits. They have lawyers, and they also have the First Amendment. So I have to think that the people at WSB are doubting the validity of the story they aired."
I was right. In fact, less than a month ago the general manager at WSB-TV sent Rick Berman, the creator of the deceptively named Center for Consumer Freedom, a letter chastising him for continuing to use the piece.
Station manager Hoffman wrote that "we [at WSB-TV] have had the opportunity to learn more about HSUS." He noted, "we believe that you have misrepresented the Broadcast as supporting your contention that HSUS actively misleads the public in its advertising. WSB-TV has no evidence of that nor do we believe it to be true." Hoffman also reminded Berman that "we immediately corrected an error in our original Broadcast regarding HSUS and Katrina relief efforts in our next news program."I have no doubt that the CCF will continue feeding this story to news stations in more states. But sooner or later media outlets will get wise to their duplicitous ways.
Meanwhile, the National Federation of Humane Societies has sided with The HSUS.
After catching wind of the campaign, the National Federation of Humane Societies — a comprehensive trade federation that represents the animal welfare industry — sent Berman a letter regarding the situation, stating the claims by the CCF were "inaccurate based on our collective experiences.”It calls on Berman to identify his corporate funders and urges him "to cease your smear campaign against HSUS that negatively impacts the efforts of our members to improve the lives of animals in their local communities."
Update (6/7/10): Well, that didn't take long. A station in Augusta, Ga., and one in Connecticut also have smear on their Web sites. They look like blog posts, though. I don't see any video. I'm guessing in a matter of days these, too, will be pulled.
(Image courtesy of The Dog Files.)
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32 comments:
The legal departments of news organizations run away fast from any threats of a lawsuit or legal action even if they fully support their story. HSUS has a history of strong arming news organizations who do not put them in a good light, regardless of the source of the story. While these stories may or may not have been sourced from CCF who obviously has an agenda of their own, I would not say that the stories being pulled is necessarily indicative of those organizations not believing what they reported, merely that the story wasn't important enough in their mind to risk trying to wage a legal battle with an organization that has 30 attorneys on staff and more than 100 on standby willing to work pro bono for their cause.
Especially since Wayne's own brother is a high powered atty in HSUS's pocket. This is a typical HSUS intimidation tactic. Like buying shares in companies so they can push their agendas, like trying to take control of livestock standards in Ohio when they already have a perfectly fine board capable of doing the job, like dressing up like faux police to raid people's property & intimidate them.
The two people posting above profit from animals. Laws protecting animals cut into profits. Thanks HSUS!! For protecting animals.
Derrel White has the phone number of a high ranking HSUS executive and he could work out his issues with them directly. But, he chooses to trash them on the internet instead. HSUS is willing to talk to him but Derrel prefers to be the National Enquirer of the meat industry.
Silly SHW'rs, facts really aren't your forte are they. Before you spew garbage you might chase down a fact or 2. I make zero money off animals of any kind. I've volunteered doing dog rescue for over a decade. Spent beaucoup bucks on animals, made any ? Nada.
I find it interesting that the HSUS supporter can't even use their own name, they must have something to hide just as HSUS does. I am sorry that it is true that attornies bully people. Its quite effective though. As we can see,,,,,,
Also the above letter that is posted. It isn't worth the paper it isn't printed on. Wayne Pacelle co founded that group in 2006 and he is currently on the Board of Directors. It must be nice to create your own reality and then try to convince everyone else live it.
Well, I have no problem leaving my real name or supporting any statements that I make. In the two instances referenced, I never said that they were not based on CCF information or that they were accurate, merely pointed out that HSUS has a history of using whatever tactics they have in their arsenal to persuade people to not disagree with them. By the way, I do have a high ranking members phone number and that dialog will begin as soon as I have had the opportunity to visit with two very esteemed members of the animal welfare community to get their point of view. The same HSUS senior staffer has my numbers as well, but I have not got a call from him either.
Great piece! I work for the HSUS and also work with an animal rescue, and it's so great to see people understanding the importance of having these different groups. It's also good to see people beginning to learn about the so called Center for Consumer Freedom. It's unfortunate many people seem to have fallen into their trap of misinformation. I think there are quite a few that may share some of our views on animal welfare issues, but it is this type of division that CCF thrives on. Hopefully more and more people will see through this facade.
Sorry Sarah, but I knew what a bunch of tripe HSUS & their factory fundraising was years before I ever heard of Rick Berman, CCF, or HumaneWatch. Sarah, you need to get a real job instead of surfing the net for Wayne all day trying to do damage control. It's futile.
Yes, Tina and Derrel have a lot of credibility - Tina breeds pitbulls and Derrel's a cattle feedlot guy - two animal industry sectors with a very poor track record of animal welfare. And yes, both of them can be found all over the internet obsessively bashing HSUS, and in Tina's case, just repeating HumaneWatch slander.
Poco, I am not sure why you are unable to post under your real name but I am quite interested to know how you support a claim that the cattle feedlot sector has a poor track record of animal welfare. Could you provide some links to this allegation? In fact, cattle feedlots have one of the best records of animal welfare. But I am certainly open to any links other than HSUS or PETA that would prove otherwise.
Tina does not breed pit bulls she is in pit bull rescue .. you might wanna check your facts
If HSUS is the knight in shining armour they claim to be why did they block the solution to the puppy mill problem in 1995? What is their real end goal if it isn't to clean up the problem in the puppy mills like they say it is? Clearly blocking that legislation is working contrary to their publicly stated goals.
http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/3TroubleHSUS.html
Loco Lynn, I do not breed, nor have I EVER bred, Pit Bulls or any other type of dog. I rescue Pit Bulls, have been doing it over a decade. Perhaps you need a reading comprehension course ?
HSUS does not want me to ride my horses or compete in agility with my dogs. They would rather I didn't even own them let alone have an occasional litter of puppies. Oh the horror......forget the fact I am active in rescue (3 rescue dogs currently living here and 3 foster horses). The ads I see on late night TV every evening for HSUS have photos of sad eyed dogs and cats deceiving people into thinking they are helping them and for "only $19 per month" I could help them, too but I would be helping make laws making it harder for people to own and enjoy their pets/animal companions. I am far better off giving my dollars to local rescues and fostering for them than to support HSUS!!
If we all go vegan what happens to all the cows and pigs????? Extinct in one generation just like Wayne wants......you are more than welcome to follow your vegan religion but don't try to force it on the rest of us! And in case you think I own a feedlot I am not a farmer and am in the medical field!
This info does not come from Berman, CCF, or HW. It was written in 2007, long before HW was ever heard of. If it's true, it's not slander.
http://www.dogpolitics.com/my_weblog/2007/08/hsus-wayne-pace.html#more
To anonymous - we've got quite a few horse fans at the HSUS. That includes those that actively ride and own horses, and those who love horses but don't own any. In fact if you have horses - sign up for the Ride for Rescues that the American Competitive Trail Horse Association is putting on that we are working on with them. There are many organizations out there - if you don't like the HSUS for whatever reason, then don't support us. But respect those that do - and by respect I mean realize that our donors know what we stand for, and support our efforts. It's important to support all efforts to help animals, whether it's a national group focusing on broad issues of animal cruelty, your local shelter taking in strays and finding them homes, or the kid in your neighborhood saving up for riding lessons by mucking stalls.
Sarah from anonymous horse owner/lover: I'm glad to hear there are horse owners at HSUS because I am under the impression HSUS wants NO animal ownership just like PETA and from what I have found on your blogs and web sites HSUS is against horses being bred and shown. There are many quotes from Wayne including "one generation and out" referring to domestic animals, that he doesn't personally like animals, etc. Rather than the rescue ride (which I am aware of) I would prefer to keep my rescue dollars local since I don't know where those dollars will go. I foster for an area horse rescue (who has never received a penny from HSUS by the way) which actually costs me money since they don't pay my expenses to care for their horses, I also work at their fund raising booths that they have at area events that help get the word out about the huge need for foster "farms" and adoptive homes, humane treatment of horses and positive training methods, and the need for money for feed, vet bills, etc. It appears to me that HSUS uses their funds raised for lobbying for laws that would make it harder and harder for normal folks like me to own or breed any sort of animals rather than for helping these animals. That is why I cannot support them (and I used to before I did more research into what they stood for and realized that I am considered a bad guy for raising occ. litters of puppies that all go to carefully screened homes with full health guarantees and my support for life).
To anonymous - for what it's worth, we are all for responsible pet ownership! One of the best parts of working at HSUS is that we get to bring our dogs to work. Feel free to shoot an email if you ever have any questions or want to dicuss!
Just so everyone knows. Sarah is employed to come on here and tell you that. She is motivated by her paycheck to defend HSUS.
HSUS won't come out and say you shouldn't have pets. They are far too smart. If you dig into their website you will find that they want to DETER breeding of companion animals. Deter is defined as to stop something by fear. They also oppose pet stores and other commercial sales. "other commercial sales" is anything that ISN'T a pet store. While they may not want to pass a law banning pet ownership they are working to eliminate them at the source. That would leave one generation of approx 2 million spayed and neutered shelter pets to replace 151 million companion animals.
http://www.humanesociety.org/about/policy_statements/statement_companion_animals.html
I'm leaving my original comment in the previous paragraphs up so you can see them. The last time I checked this page you had an anti breeding position up. Does this mean you no longer support any legislation that reduces and deters breeding of companion animals Sarah? Or you just aren't making it public anymore?
So Sarah, why don't you tell us HSUS's position on owning reptiles as pets.
I'm proud of working at the HSUS - having worked at a shelter I feel our work is extremely important, and extremely needed. I clicked on the link you provided, but it's broken. If you're trying to find our position/policy statements, you can see that here http://www.humanesociety.org/about/policy_statements/our_policies_1.html
I'm not here to argue, it's fruitless to nitpick with large organizations. It is rare that someone agrees 100% with large groups, no one is perfect and all organizations are constantly growing. When I look at Tina's postings I think they are a good example - we have changed our position on fighting dogs. We now recommend that all dogs from fighting raids be individually evaluated.
I will say that we are all for responsible pet ownership - of course adoption is a great option, but we also support those who go to responsible breeders. We even have a guide to finding responsible breeders on our website http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/puppy_mills/tips/finding_good_dog_breeder.html
I think people are smart enough to decide for themselves what they want to support. If anyone does have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email. If you have questions about our work, I recommend seeing what we do on a daily basis by reading our CEO's blog at http://waynepacelle.com
LMAO, yeah, HSUS changed their position on fighting dogs because of all the publicity around the Vick case & when the truth came out that they were euthanising nursing puppies because they were deemed "too dangerous". It's called PR.
I was able to access both policy links. Interesting that HSUS is against using spurs on horses when Pat Parelli uses spurs. Used correctly they are just an extension of leg pressure. Anything used wrong can be cruel. I have read Wayne's blog and was just on it. The videos of the cow abuse made me cry. Can't paint a whole industry as bad due to a few nasty people but there are laws to deal with people like that and I'm glad he was arrested. There is NO excuse for that type of behavior but that isn't a reason to try to make people go "vegan".
Children are abused, too, but we don't outlaw people from having children.
There is nothing wrong with that link that a little cutting and pasting into your browser won't fix. Worked perfectly fine for me.
I find it interesting you said HSUS supports people using a responsible breeder but didn't say that HSUS supports responsible breeders. There is a fundamental message in that I think. For now use responsible breeders until we can eliminate them at the source. Since until quite recently the HSUS's publicly stated policy on breeding was to support any legislation that reduced or deterred breeding should we assume that position, while no longer made public, is in effect? There certainly has been no contrary statement about breeding in general.
I was particularly interested to see you ignored the commercial sales portion in statement on companion animals. If you successfully oppose the sale of companion animals where will people get them and why would anyone breed something they can't sell?
Here I'll put your own position statement on companion animals up again in case anyone wants to paste it into their browser and go look at it.
http://www.humanesociety.org/about/policy_statements/statement_companion_animals.html
I think the bigger issue here is how Wayne colluded with a senator to block legislation that would have ended the suffering of so many companion animals in these puppy mills he claims to hate.
"On August 4, just days before the letter was to
be sent to the USDA, Senator Santorum's letter was changed to ask for
enforcement of current regulations only."
AKC CUT LETTER'S DEMANDS
Congressional and Senatorial aides who spoke to ANIMAL PEOPLE--some of whom
called before their offices were asked for comment--confirmed that this is
exactly what happened: after 124 other legislators had already signed on,
Santorum huddled with AKC lobbyist Jim Holt, AVMA lobbyist Pamela Abney,
and Pacelle, deleting the requests that cage sizes be increased, water be
always available, tethering be banned, temperature guidelines be
re-examined, flooring follow specific material requirements, and the number
of times an animal may be bred be restricted, and putting the onus on the
USDA to enforce the existing regulations that it had already found to be
unenforceable. "
http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/3TroubleHSUS.html
Hi, Digging through our dirt, I actually work at the HSUS, and I couldn't be prouder!
Of course we use legal thuggery and SLAPP lawsuits to harass and intimidate critics and media outlets who question our noble work - and finances. We can't afford to have the truth get out and they can't afford to fight us.
If we didn't cover up our fraud, Wayne Pacelle would be sitting in a jail cell so small, he couldn't extend his limbs or flex his political muscles. Then who would stop the seal hunt, send the "staged animal fighting" freaks to the slammer, close down those puppy mills?
I worked at a shelter and recently turned down a six figure offer from the Scientology Emerging Media department to stay at HSUS. As always, check out Wayne's blog and donate now.
Hey, if anyone wants to see what H$U$ wants to hide, go to
http://www.vidoosh.tv/play.php?vid=4360
Thanks much. I have wanted to put that link at the bottom of my signature line. If the HS US is so embarassed by what they do that they have to threaten people that tell the truth, they need to clean up their act!
I apologize for coming to the party late. I won't write a detailed comment, responding to the many points made here. I will only say this:
I am against murdering animals for food, sport, etc. That is why I'm vegan and why I advocate for animal rights.
The argument we are having here really isn't about The HSUS. It's about Rick Berman and his deceptive "non-profits," which attack organizations that threaten the corporations and industries that fund his PR work.
It used to be PETA. But since The HSUS has become good at instituting change, they've turned their focus onto it.
Perhaps Mercy For Animals will be next, as the video of the abuse at the Conklin farm has drawn a lot of mainstream attention and outrage.
Regardless, you can moan about The HSUS all you want. But the average person cares about animals, and animal advocates (associated with The HSUS and not) are going to continue educating consumers about the abuse their money is supporting.
Tracy - a great blog by the way. Thank you for doing your part to help expose the fraud that is fighting animals.
The ludicrous comments here from people who sound like HumaneWatch disciples reminds me how out of touch with reality their astroturf army really is. Sorry you were bombarded... Seeking out and harassing animal welfare supporters is their MO.
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