Who's Bankrolling the Enemy
Here's How Anti-Hunting Groups Load Their Bank Accounts
The anti-hunting capital of the world is located at 2100 L St., NW in
Washington, D.C. There, under the shadow of the Capitol Dome, is the
national headquarters of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS),
a multinational conglomerate with 10 regional offices in the U.S.
Standing in front of this edifice filled with people working tirelessly
to turn sportsmen into criminals, I began to wonder who funds all this
madness. There can`t be that many anti-pet ownership, anti-milk,
anti-hunting, left-of-reality, ferret farm-vandalizing,
fur-coat-loathing, omnivore-bashing, tree-hugging animal rights
activists in the country. After all, Ralph Nader only got 1 percent of
the national vote in the 2004 election.
So I knocked on the door.
A woman in a business suit seated at a desk on the other side of the
glass door gave me a very quizzical look and motioned for me to enter.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I`d really like to know who pays for all of this."
"Who . . . why I . . . how do you mean?"
"Your salary, all this propaganda!" I asked, pointing to booklets with
titles like "Civil War or Civility: How to Live with Urban Coyotes,"
"Souls Like Ourselves: Inspired Thoughts for Personal and Planetary
Advancement," and, "Animals in Peril: How `Sustainable Use` is Wiping
out the World`s Wildlife."
"Oh, there are many giving, caring people who want to stop animal
suffering. Who are you?" Her tone was soft and dreamy.
"An editor for American Hunter magazine."
Her tone became graded and shocked. "You`re kidding?"
After asking to see their leader, I was led down an elevator, through a
hall plastered with posters of cuddly animals--nary a lion with blood on
its jowls--to the very heart of the largest anti-hunting group in the U.S.
"How can I help you?" said a 20-something man wearing an HSUS T-shirt
and a suspicious glare.
"I`m just wondering where your money comes from," I said as I looked
around in surprise. There was hardly an office space at all. The whole
floor, located appropriately in the basement, was just a large
mail-processing center. It seems the heart of the largest anti-hunting
group in the U.S. is a propaganda machine. A dozen youths stared at me
from over bundles of newsletters, leaflets and HSUS` magazine, Animal
Sheltering.
After I had roved around for a few minutes asking questions and picking
up samples of their propaganda one of them finally raised the courage to
ask: "Who is it you work for?"
"The NRA," I said proudly.
"And how did you get in here?"
"I knocked on the door," I shrugged.
"Then you know where it is," he said while pointing his finger.
Oh, well.
Perhaps the Hollywood approach was too direct. I next opted for a more
informal investigation into HSUS` financials, determined to crawl
through the slime of the IRS if I had to. However, just as I was pulling
on my figurative hip waders, HSUS president, Wayne Pacelle, answered my
first question at, of all things, a press conference.
"This is a historic move that is going to unite the (anti-hunting)
movement. I`m looking for us to become a hard-hitting campaign
organization," he boasted. Then he explained that the merger of HSUS
with the Fund for Animals (one of the most radical anti-hunting groups
in the world) would now give them a combined annual budget of $96 million.
A $96 million budget! Hmm? HSUS is a 501c(3) nonprofit group, which, as
a tax-exempt charity, means its books are open to the public. Well,
mostly open. HSUS` complex, international structure helps it hide
expenses; accordingly, a quest to determine HSUS` true global net worth
turned out to have more turns and pitfalls than an Enron investigation.
This is because money routinely goes back and forth between HSUS and its
affiliates overseas. For example, according to ActivistCash.com (a
website run by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a coalition of
restaurant and tavern operators tired of being assaulted by anti-meat
activists), HSUS buried $6.4 million of its direct-mail costs in its
2000-2001 budget by putting it into something called the HSUS Wildlife
Land Trust, which allowed HSUS to claim that it kept its fundraising
costs low so charity watchdog groups wouldn`t give it a failing score.
So they`re slippery, but I wasn`t the first to wonder who pays for their
stamps.
5
Top Animal-Rights Groups
1
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)
Total Revenue - $60,993,634
Total Assets - $96,603,057
2
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
Total Revenue - $41,263,102
Total Assets - $62,514,797
3
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Total Revenue - $17,012,12
Total Assets - $6,526,799
4
Friends of Animals Inc.
Total Revenue - $4,343,483
Total Revenue - $4,343,483
5
Animal Protection Institute
Total Revenue - $1,473,313
Total Assets - $3,071,006
(Financial data for year 2002 collected from IRS Form 990 filings
provided by GuideStar, a National Database for Non-Profit Organizations.)
How HSUS Got Started
Before you get into their fuzzy economics you have to realize that there
is an enormous difference between animal "welfare" organizations, which
work for the humane treatment of animals, and modern animal "rights"
organizations, which work to completely end hunting and even the
ownership of animals. The former have been around for centuries; the
latter emerged in the 1950s and grew fanatic in the 1980s with the rise
of radical animal-rights groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA). "Animal-rights groups are a modern concoction that
parallel the growing urban detachment from the natural world," said Doug
Jeanneret, director of communications for the U.S. Sportmen`s Alliance.
"It`s hard to imagine 19th-century farming communities erecting
billboards that claim milk causes cancer."
HSUS actually began as an animal-welfare organization. Originally called
the National Humane Society, it was established in 1954 as a splinter
group of the American Humane Association (AHA). Its founders wanted a
more extreme group. Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA,
aptly explains in his book Guns, Freedom and Terrorism that "PETA has
quietly succeeded in achieving a bloodless internal takeover of HSUS."
Today, of course, HSUS is anti-hunting, anti-meat eating and is even
against owning pets. A few of its current causes include an effort to
stop Maryland`s residents from controlling the bear population and a
campaign to end the "inhumane practice of bowhunting." HSUS is also the
chief force behind PZP, a chemical found in pig ovaries that when
injected can make most mammals (including humans) infertile for long
periods of time. HSUS has been researching and testing PZP in an effort
to convince state game agencies there is an alternative to hunting, as
if an army of left-leaning urbanites is going to take up "deer darting"
every November and thereby displace the nation`s 14-16 million deer hunters.
Stop laughing, delusions like this have helped HSUS, and other such
groups, prosper, as you`ll see in the following top five ways HSUS and
other animal-rights groups raise the cash used to try to transform you
into a tofu-eating, herbicide-hating, science-dismissing,
lactate-intolerant, non-hunting pet "guardian."
1. Misinformation Campaigns
The answer to where HSUS` money comes from starts with its name, which
was picked to confuse people into thinking they are one of the reputable
"humane societies" that run animal shelters around the country. But
though HSUS raises enough money to finance animal shelters in every
state, it does not own or run a single one. HSUS feeds off this
confusion. Its website has an icon with the statement: "Your shelter
performs thankless tasks 365 days a year. It`s time to show them some
love." If you click on these two sentences you`ll find an article that
explains the importance of animal shelters. To the left of the article
is a sidebar asking for donations. Too bad none of the money given to
HSUS goes directly to these shelters. Its magazine is even titled Animal
Sheltering, when, in fact, HSUS is on the forefront of the political
movement to legally redefine "pets" as "companion animals," and their
"owners" as merely "guardians." But Americans fall for these evasions of
the truth every day.
It`s not just the non-hunting public that has fallen for HSUS`
deception. HSUS has even managed to get the U.S. government to help it
raise funds (and its public profile). In 1995 the U.S. Postal Service
mailed postcards to millions of homes for National Dog Bite Prevention
Week. The mailer, which suggested ways dog owners could keep their pets
from biting mail carriers, included the HSUS logo and address.
"Even though local shelters are trying their best to save lives, they
are simply overwhelmed," said the postcard. That sentence, at least, is
true; too bad every dime that went to the multi-million-dollar
conglomerate HSUS as a result of this campaign didn`t do a thing about it.
Compared Rate of Return
According to charity watchdog groups many animal-rights groups are
poorly rated charities; for example, Charity Navigator recently gave
HSUS zero stars (out of four) for its fund-raising efficiency and an
overall rating of two stars. It also failed HSUS` International Fund for
Animal Welfare and gave one star to Humane Society International and the
Humane Society of the United States Wildlife Land Trust.
Give.org, another charity watchdog group, reports that HSUS does
not meet its standards for charitable donations because "no member of
the board is assigned the responsibility of serving as the treasurer of
the board of directors" and because its program expenses in 2003 were
"63 percent of total expenses," meaning that 37 percent of its funds
went to executive pay (Paul G. Irwin, former president of HSUS, was paid
$315,898 in 2003) and to other activities.
In contrast, hunting-conservation organizations often score high
marks from charity-watchdog groups; for example, The U.S. Sportsmen`s
Alliance Foundation was recognized as the top conservation organization
in the country (four stars) by Charity Navigator. Also, Give.org notes
that 84 percent of Ducks Unlimited money goes to its programs and
Charity Navigator notes that an exceptional 90 percent of funds raised
by The NRA Foundation goes to its programs (see the disparities for
yourself at www.give.org and www.charitynavigator.org).--F.M.
2. Corporate Sponsors
HSUS recently joined the highly lucrative, third-party certification
business. Some environmental and animal-rights groups have developed
"eco-labels." These are granted (for a price) to farms and corporations
to certify that its food and/or clothing is environmentally friendly.
HSUS is a founding member of the Humane Farm Animal Care coalition. For
the right amount of money its "Certified Humane Raised and Handled"
label is available to meat, poultry and dairy producers.
HSUS` website says, "The United States Department of Agriculture,
Agricultural Marketing Service Livestock and Seed Program verifies the
inspection process of the Certified Humane Raised and Handled program."
But, according to Kathryn Mattingly, who does press relations for the
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, that`s a lie. "We have audited the
auditors of the Certified Humane Raised and Handled program but they
have not retained our services to inspect their program," said
Mattingly, who then explained that many companies do legitimately pay
the USDA to oversee food-labeling programs (see the list at:
http://processverified.usda.gov/).
HSUS declined to answer how much it charges farms and corporations for
the use of the label. To qualify, its criteria state that after filling
out an application an "inspector then advises the USDA as to where and
when the on-site inspection will take place. The USDA then determines if
it will attend the inspection or not." Knowing that the USDA is not even
involved with the program, this is more than just evasion of the truth;
it`s a lie.
Aside from these "eco-labels," naivete leads some corporations to help
HSUS. For example, in 1991, Sears, Roebuck and Company donated 8 percent
of the wholesale price of selected stuffed animals in its Wishbook
catalogue to HSUS. The U.S. Sportsmen`s Alliance called for hunters to
express their outrage with the promotion. Not long after, Al Mathes,
assistant to the president of the catalogue division, issued an apology
and stated, "Every customer ordering stuffed animals from the catalogue
will be informed that the promotion is over."
In 1992, Ace Hardware Corporation, a major retailer of hunting and
fishing gear, refused to sever its relationship with HSUS. A call went
out to sportsmen across the nation to send Ace comments on its
partnership with the anti-hunting group. Soon, John J. Cameron,
corporate communications director for Ace, announced that the promotion
had been cancelled.
In 2001, General Mills, maker of breakfast cereals, promoted HSUS by
distributing free calendars in marked packages of Golden Grahams cereal.
General Mills heeded the sportsmens` cries and the promotion was ended.
In 2004, Michelin, a leading automobile tire manufacturer, ended its
sponsorship of the Red Star Emergency Services Division of the American
Humane Association (AHA) after sportsmen protested helping the
anti-hunting group.
But some corporations know exactly what they`re supporting. According to
HSUS` 2003 Annual Report, Saab Cars USA, American Red Cross, Citibank
USA, MasterCard, Pedigree Food for Dogs, Petsafe Training Systems,
Safeway Inc., Time Inc. and many others are helping to "generate
revenue" for HSUS despite protests from sportsmen. Go to
http://www.wlfa.org/templates/businessantis.cfm for a list and other
info on who`s supporting anti-hunters.
Though HSUS raises enough money
to finance animal shelters in every state,
it does not own or run a single shelter.
3. Going Wall Street
In its quest to gobble up a larger share of worldwide animal-rights
income, HSUS established the Humane Equity Fund in 2000. Housed at
Salomon Smith Barney, the Fund was designed to capture money from
smaller animal-rights groups (and financially naive local humane
societies) by offering to "manage" their assets in an "animal-friendly
way." HSUS seeded the fund with an $8-million check, according to
ActivistCash.com.
Salomon Smith Barney committed to paying HSUS an annual consulting fee
equal to .07 percent of the fund`s average daily balance. In order to
earn its cut, HSUS would identify corporations worthy of the fund`s
"humane" investment policies--and blacklist other investment vehicles as
"inhumane." However, by August 2002, the fund was "terminated" because,
according to HSUS, "many funds suffered in the recent economic
conditions." How much of local animal-welfare groups` money was
squandered by HSUS` failed investment vehicle is unknown.
The Sierra Club has also dabbled in the market. Forward Management LLC,
based in San Francisco, helped create the Sierra Club Funds, securities
chosen for potential investment based on environmental and social
criteria set by the Sierra Club. (Lest you think the Sierra Club is not
anti-hunting and anti-gun, here are a few facts to the contrary: see
sidebar "Oh, How They`ve Changed!")
HSUS also uses "Charitable Gift Annuities," a contract between an
individual and the HSUS whereby someone transfers cash, real estate or
marketable securities (e.g., stocks, bonds, mutual fund shares, etc.) of
at least $5,000 to HSUS and, in exchange, HSUS pays them a fixed amount
monthly, quarterly or annually. There is also a donor-advised fund that
operates like a private foundation. Basically, someone sets money aside
for charity. It stays there (minus administration fees by HSUS) until
the person decides what group to give it to. Again, those who do give to
HSUS have no way of knowing what cause their money has gone to.
4. Trust Fund Babies
Big, bureaucratic, left-leaning foundations are the chief givers to
anti-hunting groups. It`s the same every time: Some leader of industry
creates a fortune, he passes on and his children (or children`s
children) grow up guilty rich. Lost as they are in their idealistic,
silver-spoon-fed fantasy worlds, they decide they have to do something
to stop horrible corporations interested only in profit margins (like
the ones that generated the cash for their trust funds) from ruining the
planet. And thus a charitable foundation is born.
All the children take up seats on the board and each year they gather to
dole out cash from the interest on the money in their foundation`s pool.
And they feel so good when they give millions to Greenpeace to run
campaigns against selling genetically improved crops to prevent people
in third-world countries from eating what the rest of us do (and so
Greenpeace can profit from sales of its "organic" crops), and to HSUS to
stop "trophy" hunters from controlling the bear population in Maryland,
and to PETA so it can put up billboards that declare, "Beef: It`s What`s
Rotting in Your Colon," while PETA passes money to eco-terrorists like
the Animal Liberation Front so they, in turn, can burn down vacation homes.
During the last presidential campaign you might have heard that Teresa
Heinz Kerry is one of these guilty, liberal rich idealists. She is
listed as the "chair" of Heinz Endowments, a foundation instituted by
Howard Heinz`s widow in 1941. Howard`s father was Henry J. Heinz, the
table-condiments innovator who founded the Heinz food processing
company. As of 2001 Heinz Endowments had a total net worth of
$1,257,555,612, and had given $6,049,500 to Tides Foundation and Tides
Center (a foundation ActivistCash.com calls a "money laundering scheme"
that gives millions to animal-rights groups), $2,570,767 to
Environmental Defense (a group whose key issue is global warming), and
$88,000 to the Sierra Club.
Possibly the biggest and most powerful foundation is The Pew Charitable
Trusts, which was endowed with various inheritances of the four children
of Joseph N. Pew, founder of the Sun Oil Company.
As of 2002, its total assets were $7,631,088,018 and in that year alone
it awarded $238,534,822 in grants. Here are a few examples: The Tides
Foundation and Tides Center got $114,086,400 between 1990-2002;
Earthjustice (The Sierra Club`s Legal Defense Fund, which has fought to
stop the hunting of grizzlies and wolves) got $19,046,000 between
1995-2003; the Natural Resources Defense Council (a group that grew
famous when it accused apple growers of using cancer-causing
agents--allegations that proved false, yet cost apple growers an
estimated $250 million) was given $11,568,000 between 1991-2000; and the
Sierra Club was given $4,035,000 between 1992-2001.
There are many other examples--Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The
Rockefeller Foundation--but they all follow the same pattern, loads of
money from old industry being dumped into far-left causes, many of which
are designed to erode your rights as a sportsman and a shooter.
Oh, How They`ve Changed
A lot of moderate-minded people (along with their money) have been
towed into the environmental/animal rights movement by organizations
that have changed direction. For example, the Sierra Club was founded in
1892 by John Muir to "make the mountains glad." Today, the Sierra Club
is the oldest and one of the most powerful environmental groups in the
nation. But its concerns are no longer limited to the happiness of the
mountains.
Here are a few examples:
The Sierra Club is anti-science: Some of the things on the Sierra
Club`s hit list include genetically improved crops, herbicides, forest
thinning to prevent fires and scientific evidence when determining if a
species has recovered enough to be delisted from the Endangered Species Act.
EarthJustice, the Sierra Club`s legal arm, is after you: They don`t
take sportsmen into account when choosing their battles. Here are a few
examples: they sued to stop the hunting of black bears in the Cascade
Mountains, in Washington state; they were able to stop an elk study that
was calling for reducing cougar populations in Oregon; and the Sierra
Club`s attorneys are trying to prevent hunters from managing grizzly
bear and wolf populations that have exceeded population goals set by the
Endangered Species Act.
Some chapters of the Sierra Club have endorsed PETA: The national
organization tries to appear nonpartisan and moderate, while turning a
blind eye when its chapters go radical anti-hunting; for example,
ActivistCash.org reports that "Sierra Club activists in Florida endorse
PETA`s mantra that eating meat is a form of animal abuse that
contributes to world hunger. (And) Sierra Club chapters in New York and
Michigan promote the `Vegetarian Starter Kit` distributed by the
misnamed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (a PETA front
group), as a way to fight `corporate greed.`"
Most of the congressmen it doles out its cash to are anti-gun: Do
the math and you`ll find that if all of the left-leaning candidates the
Sierra Club endorsed were elected you would have to kiss your firearms
goodbye.
Some of its leadership positions are held by activists with radical
ties: For example, Paul Watson, who was elected to the Sierra Club`s
board of directors in 2003, founded the ultra-radical Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society (SSCS) in 1977 after he had been ousted from
Greenpeace (which he also co-founded) for espousing violence in the name
of the environment. Watson and his Sea Shepherd pirates sail the high
seas, terrorizing the fishing industry by sinking ships.--F.M.
5. Celebrities
HSUS has a Hollywood Office where they specialize in slipping their
hands into the stars` far-left pockets. Many of Hollywood`s most famous
don`t seem to mind: Pamela Anderson posed topless for a PETA poster.
Pierce Brosnan (the most recent James Bond) is an advisory board member
for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a marine environmental group
perhaps best known for ramming whaling ships. James Cromwell (star of
the film Babe) was arrested in 2001 for his participation in a
PETA-sponsored Wendy`s protest. Bill Maher (host of the show Politically
Incorrect on HBO), is a very active supporter of PETA, and has said, "To
those people who say, `My father is alive because of animal
experimentation,` I say, `Yeah, well, good for you. This dog died so
your father could live.` Sorry, but I am just not behind that kind of
trade-off." Robert Redford, Bob Barker, Mary Tyler Moore and many others
also help to raise funds for anti-hunting groups. They are certainly
entitled to their opinions, but so are you when you turn on your
television or go to the box office. (Find more info on who`s helping
animal-rights groups at www.ActivistCash.org and www.nraila.org).
It`s appropriate that we end this list of delusion with Hollywood. The
world has seen a lot of progress during the last century--phones smaller
than packs of cigarettes, artificial climates, scent-eating
clothing--but forgetting we are part of the natural order of things is
not a part of this progress; on the contrary, it`s the very delusion
that loads the anti-hunters` bank accounts and that could do away with
hunting altogether. If that happens the human race will lose its last
causal connection to the wild world and such a monumental break with
reality can`t lead to good things.
Posted: 3/18/2005 12:00:00 AM
Copyright 2007, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for
Legislative Action.
This may be reproduced. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes