Center for Consumer Freedom

There’s no denying it: The gargantuan Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is now the animal rights industry’s richest and most powerful player. HSUS is exercising its prohibition-minded influence in every corner of America, over everything from the pets in our homes to the eggs on our plates. HSUS pursues a PETA-like agenda with a budget and seriousness that PETA itself has never been able to match.

Ohio provides a timely example. Last November, Ohio voters voted overwhelmingly (with 63% “yes” votes) to amend the State Constitution by creating a Livestock Care Standards Board. All issues of “animal care and well-being” in the Buckeye State are now entrusted to this Board. But that presents a problem for HSUS, which would rather abolish livestock farming than see it responsibly regulated.

As we predicted back in September—before “Issue 2” even got a vote—HSUS is now moving to supersede the judgment of Ohio’s livestock authorities with its own ballot initiative. Today HSUS officially put the wheels in motion. If this counter-attack succeeds, the Livestock Care Standards Board will be required to adopt HSUS-recommended standards, whether or not they are in the best interests of animals.

Next week we will re-launch HumaneWatch.org, and you are cordially invited to lend a hand as it grows. HumaneWatch will be a blog, a document library, a rogues’ gallery, a historical resource, and more. Our Director of Research will be sharing what we know, and inviting you to do the same. No topic will be off-limits, and your comments will be welcome. (Yes, Mr. Pacelle. Even yours.)

So today we’re putting out the call: If you have anything in your files or on your computer that concerns the Humane Society of the United States (no matter how insignificant it may seem to you), we would like to see it. Most of what is known about HSUS is squirreled away in filing cabinets, or lost to history but for the memories of a few persistent Americans. But that’s about to change.

We want fundraising mailers (including forwarded e-mails), old tax returns, advertisements, magazine back-issues, correspondence, legal papers, photos, contemporaneous accounts of historical events—you name it. Anything related to HSUS or any of its many subsidiary groups.

We’ve set up two easy “drop boxes” so you can start flooding us with anything you want to share. Anonymous submissions are welcome (we will take pains to authenticate everything before using it). We promise to protect your privacy.

You can e-mail information about HSUS to info@HumaneWatch.org (a robustly virus-protected address), or send postal mail to “HumaneWatch,” P.O. Box 34555, Washington DC 20043.

Materials sent to the P.O. Box will not be returned, so please only send copies of anything you’d like to keep. If you have large archives to share, please drop us an e-mail for a discussion of how we can take it off your hands at no cost to you.

We’ll let you know when the new website goes live. In the meantime, please gear up to help us ask some tough questions, and provide some answers.

Because even a dog-watcher needs a watchdog.