Most hunters know the Humane Society of the United States is an anti-hunting organization that hides behind the veil of your local animal shelter that saves cute little puppies and kittens. In fact, HSUS does not operate a single shelter and only gives less than 1 percent of its yearly budget to shelters — partly because that’s not what they’re all about, and partly because huge chunks of their money have to go to a $15 million settlement of a federal RICO bribery and fraud-related lawsuit. They have a C- rating from the well-respected CharityWatch and have a “Donor Advisory” rather than a rating from Charity Navigator.
On the organization’s website, they state their position on hunting: “The HSUS actively works to eliminate the most inhumane and unfair sport hunting practices, such as the use of body-gripping traps and snares; bear baiting; the hound hunting of bears, bobcats, mountain lions and wolves; contest killing events; and captive-hunting on fenced properties. We oppose live pigeon shoots and other forms of staged hunting where the animals are bred or stocked simply to be shot as living targets. We also oppose the trophy hunting of rare or endangered populations and the use of lead ammunition, since less toxic alternatives are workable and available in the marketplace.”
It also opposes trapping and “indiscriminate killing of predatory animals” altogether.
HSUS is no friend of hunters, and actively works to shut down many of the things we hold dear. If you want to keep an eye on its efforts, and you should, tune in to HumaneWatch.org. It is a watchdog group that specifically focuses on the deceptive practices of Humane Society of the United States.
Last September, HumaneWatch.org launched a boycott campaign against the credit card company Discover, based on a new affinity card Discover launched that would benefit HSUS. For every $100 someone with one of the affinity cards spent, Discover donated a few cents to HSUS — an amount Discover estimated would add up to around $1 million.
The Dump Discover campaign encouraged users to boycott Discover until it ended its support of HSUS, which HumaneWatch.org calls “one of America’s most deceptive charities.” They took out billboards in New York’s Times Square and created a video that spread via social media (you can see it below).
The campaign gained momentum and must have hit Discover where it hurt. In early April 2015, Discover announced it was discontinuing its partnership with HSUS. HumaneWatch.org called off the boycott, saying, “This development is great news. As a result of Discover cancelling the affinity card program, HSUS stands to lose over $450,000 in expected revenue — and that’s a conservative estimate. It’s likely over $2 million.”
So it looks like HSUS was the one who ended up getting dumped. Score one for the good guys!
