When people find out that Humane Society of the United States isn’t affiliated with local humane societies and doesn’t run any shelters of its own, they usually ask where the $130 million HSUS receives in contributions goes. The answer: Not to local pet shelters. Instead, it funds HSUS’s fat cat CEO, pays for lobbyists and lawyers, or gets socked away at Caribbean hedge funds ($50 million in 2012 and 2013 alone). It also paid millions to settle a federal racketeering lawsuit.
Here’s a metric of just how rotten HSUS is: In each of the past four years, HSUS has funneled more money to its own pension fund than it has contributed to help local pet shelters care for pets – you know, the shelters that actually provide care for the animals HSUS claims to love so much in their commercials. Since 2010, HSUS has dumped nearly $10.7 million into pensions – 3.7 times more than the $2.9 million it has given to local pet shelters. Here’s the most recently available data:
Year
Pension contributions
Shelter Donations
2010
$2,693,201
$528,676
2011
$2,493,898
$307,708
2012
$2,978,586
$1,028,586
2013
$2,520,588
$1,012,142
Total
$10,686,273
$2,877,112
It doesn’t take long to see that HSUS is really all about one thing: Helping itself. HSUS itself acknowledges that between 3 and 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized in American shelters every year—about half of all pets that enter their doors. While HSUS claims it’s “about protecting all animals,” it appears to prioritize lining its own pockets.
It’s little wonder that HSUS is under investigation by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for deceptive fundraising practices and consistently receives poor marks from charity watchdogs like CharityWatch and Charity Navigator. If you want to help pets in your area and not HSUS executives’ bottom line, give to local shelters.
When people find out that Humane Society of the United States isn’t affiliated with local humane societies and doesn’t run any shelters of its own, they usually ask where the $130 million HSUS receives in contributions goes. The answer: Not to local pet shelters. Instead, it funds HSUS’s fat cat CEO, pays for lobbyists and lawyers, or gets socked away at Caribbean hedge funds ($50 million in 2012 and 2013 alone). It also paid millions to settle a federal racketeering lawsuit.
