Fay, who was in the care of Mutts-N-Stuff All-Breed Dog Rescue. Donations in her name made be made after clicking on this image, taking you to her memorial page on Mutt-N Stuff's website

Regardless of whether we agree on animal care and legislation perspectives, I think we can all agree to say goodbye and good riddance to 2009.  I have been taking some time for reflection & to look at what I would write about to end 2009 and launch 2010. 

I would like to use this space to say goodbye to Fay, the pitbull immemorialized a recent HSUS fundraising campaign, widely described as misleading at best. ( KCDogBlog, Nathan Winograd)  Despite the  implications of the HSUS ad that Fay was “now safe, in a loving home, recovering thanks to HSUS”, she died on December 28, 2009 in the care of her heartbroken foster caretakers. 

Fay’s death occured in the evening after her 3rd round of surgery to attempt to deal with issues stemming from her previous abusive care in the hands of dogfighters.  Though she never survived to end up in the care of a permanent home, a forever home, she did know care & love from those who fought to save her from her injuries and illness.

The people who fought so hard were members of Mutts n Stuff All-Breed Dog Rescue of St. Louis, MO, not the HSUS.  The people who paid for the surgeries were the members of Mutts n Stuff All-Breed Dog Rescue of St. Louis, MO, not the HSUS. (At least not until shamed into coughing up $5000 after called out for their misleading fundraising campaign on the back of a lipless dog)

Fay being used by the HSUS, hadn't she been used enough already?

Its not the first time such deception has happened & I doubt it will be the last.   But for now I will keep the light shone firmly where it should be, on Fay and on Mutts n Stuff All-Breed Dog Rescue of St. Louis, MO.

Rest well Fay, you deserved better in your short life. I am grateful you knew loving care, even for a short time at the end. 

Thank you Mutts n Stuff All-Breed Dog Rescue of St. Louis, MO, for doing the hard work and dealing with the reality of the blood, sweat and tears of caring of truly mis-treated animals.  May your organization reap the rewards that truly focusing on the animals SHOULD bring.

This Annual filing also includes the contracts signed with fundraising organizations, allowing a close inspection of how much of the money raised is retained by these organizations.   For example, did you know:

• For some fund-raising organizations, the HSUS has agreed to potentially receive only 0-1% of the pledged revenue (pg 30-36 of 370, contractual minimums) and pay up to $51/calling hour, not including additional expenses?(pg 25 of 370). 
• For other organizations, the HSUS has agreed to specifically receive between 0.1-2% of gross revenue, “Organization agrees that DSG shall be compensated pursuant to the terms of the agreement which is estimated to be ninety- eight percent (98%) of gross revenue.”    (pgs 136-138 of 370)
• $8850/month  @ 54hours/month  ($163.80/hr) for “Internet consulting services” related to online communications  and Internet based relationship building (after July 2008) (pg 82 of 370)
• $16000/month @ 88 hours/month ($181.82/hour) for Internet consulting services” related to online communications  and Internet based relationship building (prior to July 2008) (pg 97 of 370) (pg 142 of 370)
• The Humane Society of the United States contracts with offshore telemarketing firms? (pg 127 of 370)

As always, donate to an organization you believe in and that is using your funds the way you intend them to be used.

The online game of Hide & Seek continues regarding the video of the WSB-TV investigation into HSUS fundraising practises.  The video appeared online for viewing last evening briefly, only to be removed again within hours.   It will be interesting to see whether attempts to suppress this video from viewing will be successful.  Does turning this video into the ‘forbidden fruit’ of the Internet really serve to make it less interesting? or to only increase the interest in seeing what ‘they’ don’t want you to see?

Meanwhile, the Center for Consumer Freedom has indicated that there has been a wave of citizen interest in re-opening the investigation into the use of the $34 million raised from the Hurricane Katrina campaign.  Parties interested in having this matter properly investigated are being encouraged to contact the Louisiana Attorney General’s office at 1-800-351-4889.

In another strange move for the HSUS, they have partnered up with Michael Vick for their Anti-Dog-Fighting campaign.  It is not such a strange move for Michael Vick.  If he was looking for a high-profile group to work on his image with, HSUS was really his only option since ASPCA was the group (link to original court documents) involved in the his conviction and PETA has publicly made taking a brain scan a condition of working with him.  I actually feel a little sorry for him in this situation,which I NEVER thought I could say, since the HSUS publicly used his high-profile arrest and court case as a repeating media opportunity and now are riding his coat-tails on his personal ‘road to redemption’

The timing of the Michael Vick partnership is incredibly odd since it will just bring further scrutiny to their fundraising practises surrounding Michael Vick’s dogs (see previous article), on the heels of the fresh scrutiny into their fundraising practises regarding Hurricane Katrina.  This is also a very risky move for the HSUS, since a number their Twitter followers have been VERY vocal in their ‘unhappiness’ with this new program.  I also wonder if Michael Vick’s public relations team have checked whether associating with the HSUS Animal Fighting Issues Manager, John “JP” Goodwin will affect the terms of Michael Vick’s probation. Not knowingly associating with convicted criminals* is a typical condition of probation agreements, and John “JP” Goodwin happens to have been convicted of criminal actions* from his days associating with the extremely radical Animal Liberation Front (ALF). 

Its getting weirder by the day.

Copyright 2009 by Erica Saunders   http://AR-HR.com
All rights reserved

*CORRECTION:  It appears that there may have been an error in my initial statement regarding John “JP” Goodwin’s convictions as felony level.  Although there have been convictions, the level (felony or misdemenor) requires further clarification.  This reference has been removed pending further investigation.

Its amazing how this story just keeps on rolling, and its really the Humane Society of the United States that is driving it.  A cone of silence continues to descend over the original WSB-TV story on HSUS fundraising practises that continues to support the rumor of the unleashing of the HSUS legal team on WSB-TV for their researched & fact-supported story. 

 As I previously mentioned, the original story been removed from the WSB-TV website.  When I wrote to WSB-TV that I was saddened to see the story removed from their website, I received the following response.  A response that has been sent out to others who wrote in to WSB-TV over their disappointment as seeing the story vanish from view.

“Thank you for writing to Talk2Us. We appreciate hearing that you were engaged by the report about HSUS. We put up and pull down stories as part of our daily editorial process. We are working on an additional story about HSUS.  – WSB-TV”

Its an odd response.  How often does a network pull a story after less than 24hrs where the viewing is accelerating and the comments are still being logged at a rapid pace.  (mostly supporting the article I might add. I have copies of the comments, just in case this is contested)  Furthermore, the Youtube copies of the WSB-TV video have all been taken down by WSB-TV request through a copyright claim.  Funny thing though, at last my count there were 254 Youtube video links that were WSB-TV video.  Yet the video that they have taken down is the one with the HSUS investigation?  Considering the current evidence, I fear a much less accurate follow up.  I hope to be wrong.

David Martosko of the Center of Consumer Freedom has not been immune from the attacks either.  Alot of people on Twitter were surprised to find that his accounts had been suspended for “Suspicious Activity”, allegedly at the behest of the HSUS.  Given that (a) his Twitter activity does not appear to violate Twitter terms of service and (b) the Humane Society Twitter users have the ability to block his messages if they don’t want to see them, it is difficult to interpret this as anything but a message that the HSUS doesn’t want anyone one Twitter to be able to see his messages.

I’ve been noticing a significant amount of activity on this website as well, with a minimum of 15 visits from the Humane Society of the United States server this morning already.  They are spending a lot of time on the two most previous blog articles as well as on the About AR-HR page.  I’ve publicly asked (via Twitter) if there is something in particular that they are looking for, but have not yet received a response

The usual recommendation to corporations facing this kind of media is to ignore it, since attempting to make it go away usually makes the process worse.  I’m becoming increasingly curious why they are actively choosing to forego this normal, and wise, course of action.  Why is fighting to make it seem like this report never happened SO important to them up to the very highest levels?

Copyright 2009 by Erica Saunders   http://AR-HR.com
All rights reserved

The online game of Hide & Seek continues regarding the video of the WSB-TV investigation into HSUS fundraising practises.  The video appeared online for viewing last evening briefly, only to be removed again within hours.   It will be interesting to see whether attempts to suppress this video from viewing will be successful.  Does turning this video into the ‘forbidden fruit’ of the Internet really serve to make it less interesting? or to only increase the interest in seeing what ‘they’ don’t want you to see?

Meanwhile, the Center for Consumer Freedom has indicated that there has been a wave of citizen interest in re-opening the investigation into the use of the $34 million raised from the Hurricane Katrina campaign.  Parties interested in having this matter properly investigated are being encouraged to contact the Louisiana Attorney General’s office at 1-800-351-4889.

In another strange move for the HSUS, they have partnered up with Michael Vick for their Anti-Dog-Fighting campaign.  It is not such a strange move for Michael Vick.  If he was looking for a high-profile group to work on his image with, HSUS was really his only option since ASPCA was the group (link to original court documents) involved in the his conviction and PETA has publicly made taking a brain scan a condition of working with him.  I actually feel a little sorry for him in this situation,which I NEVER thought I could say, since the HSUS publicly used his high-profile arrest and court case as a repeating media opportunity and now are riding his coat-tails on his personal ‘road to redemption’

The timing of the Michael Vick partnership is incredibly odd since it will just bring further scrutiny to their fundraising practises surrounding Michael Vick’s dogs (see previous article), on the heels of the fresh scrutiny into their fundraising practises regarding Hurricane Katrina.  This is also a very risky move for the HSUS, since a number their Twitter followers have been VERY vocal in their ‘unhappiness’ with this new program.  I also wonder if Michael Vick’s public relations team have checked whether associating with the HSUS Animal Fighting Issues Manager, John “JP” Goodwin will affect the terms of Michael Vick’s probation. Not knowingly associating with convicted criminals* is a typical condition of probation agreements, and John “JP” Goodwin happens to have been convicted of criminal actions* from his days associating with the extremely radical Animal Liberation Front (ALF). 

Its getting weirder by the day.

Copyright 2009 by Erica Saunders   http://AR-HR.com
All rights reserved

*CORRECTION:  It appears that there may have been an error in my initial statement regarding John “JP” Goodwin’s convictions as felony level.  Although there have been convictions, the level (felony or misdemenor) requires further clarification.  This reference has been removed pending further investigation.

Its amazing how this story just keeps on rolling, and its really the Humane Society of the United States that is driving it.  A cone of silence continues to descend over the original WSB-TV story on HSUS fundraising practises that continues to support the rumor of the unleashing of the HSUS legal team on WSB-TV for their researched & fact-supported story. 

 As I previously mentioned, the original story been removed from the WSB-TV website.  When I wrote to WSB-TV that I was saddened to see the story removed from their website, I received the following response.  A response that has been sent out to others who wrote in to WSB-TV over their disappointment as seeing the story vanish from view.

“Thank you for writing to Talk2Us. We appreciate hearing that you were engaged by the report about HSUS. We put up and pull down stories as part of our daily editorial process. We are working on an additional story about HSUS.  – WSB-TV”

Its an odd response.  How often does a network pull a story after less than 24hrs where the viewing is accelerating and the comments are still being logged at a rapid pace.  (mostly supporting the article I might add. I have copies of the comments, just in case this is contested)  Furthermore, the Youtube copies of the WSB-TV video have all been taken down by WSB-TV request through a copyright claim.  Funny thing though, at last my count there were 254 Youtube video links that were WSB-TV video.  Yet the video that they have taken down is the one with the HSUS investigation?  Considering the current evidence, I fear a much less accurate follow up.  I hope to be wrong.

David Martosko of the Center of Consumer Freedom has not been immune from the attacks either.  Alot of people on Twitter were surprised to find that his accounts had been suspended for “Suspicious Activity”, allegedly at the behest of the HSUS.  Given that (a) his Twitter activity does not appear to violate Twitter terms of service and (b) the Humane Society Twitter users have the ability to block his messages if they don’t want to see them, it is difficult to interpret this as anything but a message that the HSUS doesn’t want anyone one Twitter to be able to see his messages.

I’ve been noticing a significant amount of activity on this website as well, with a minimum of 15 visits from the Humane Society of the United States server this morning already.  They are spending a lot of time on the two most previous blog articles as well as on the About AR-HR page.  I’ve publicly asked (via Twitter) if there is something in particular that they are looking for, but have not yet received a response

The usual recommendation to corporations facing this kind of media is to ignore it, since attempting to make it go away usually makes the process worse.  I’m becoming increasingly curious why they are actively choosing to forego this normal, and wise, course of action.  Why is fighting to make it seem like this report never happened SO important to them up to the very highest levels?

Copyright 2009 by Erica Saunders   http://AR-HR.com
All rights reserved

Although blog entries abound on this topic, I decided to go back to the true information source, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) itself.  Upon review of HSUS two year anniversary summary of the use of the funds and of their 2005, 2006 and 2007 income tax records, there appear to be valid questions about the use of the funds donated for the purpose of helping animals affected Hurricane  Katrina.

According to the HSUS, $34.6 million was raised for the assistance of Katrina animals.  Yet according to 2005 income tax records, the year of Katrina, the HSUS only dispersed $8.6 million in grants for its worldwide grants base including its major grants to Louisiana groups.  The worldwide grants distributed in 2005 were only $2 million higher than the levels subsequently seen in 2006 and 2007, despite gross receipts of nearly $124 million and net assets of over $200 million at the end of 2005. 

Even by the numbers in the HSUS’ own article, the funds dispersed for the purposes of Katrina related activities total just under $18 million or 52% of the funds.  The remaining amount,  over $16.5 million dollars cannot be accounted for through HSUS provided documentation through investigation of its tax records.

There can’t be much, if any, activity related to Katrina affected animals stated as the original purpose of the fundraising.  If the remaining 48% of the money wasn’t been used for Katrina animals, then what has it been used for?  Unfortunately, the inquiry was called off shortly after the announcement of the HSUS championed cockfighting bill being passed into law.  As a result, these questions go unanswered and so they will remain.

 Copyright 2009 by Erica Saunders   http://AR-HR.com
All rights reserved

HSUS Katrina 2 year anniversary article

http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/disasters_press_room/katrina_anniversary/

HSUS 2005, 2006 & 2007 Tax records

http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=seo&ein=53-0225390