HSUS Pretends to Like Small Farms…Just Not the Meat They Produce

HSUS_GoVegIn light of widespread condemnation from the farming community, we’ve seen the Humane Society of the United States try to re-brand itself over the past year or so. HSUS has started several state agriculture councils in an effort to appear friendly to smaller farmers, but in truth it would be all too happy to shut them down in pursuit of a meatless, cheese-less, egg-less world.

HSUS may have a farmer or two on staff, but the head honchos are not only still against animal agriculture, but they seem obsessed with the vegan lifestyle—not just for humans but for pets as well.

You may recall that HSUS released a vegan brand of dog food a few years ago. That now appears to be off the market entirely—we assume it didn’t sell well. (And we wonder whether it sat well.) But HSUS hasn’t entirely given up, posting several recipes for vegan dog treats that CEO Wayne Pacelle promoted on his blog this week.

Similarly, not a single one of the recipes for people that HSUS publishes has any animal product, calling instead for processed soy concoctions as replacement. A quick search of the HSUS website returns over 1,200 results for the word “vegan.” And the Twitter feeds of HSUS’s (anti-)farm campaigners reveal the obsession with veganism that drives them.

Our point isn’t that veganism is bad. It’s a free country, and people can certainly eat and live how they want to. But HSUS shouldn’t pretend that it’s in favor of meat produced from small-scale farmers—as it is telling those farmers and the public at large—when it is against all animal agriculture. And HSUS should stop pretending to the public and its donors that it’s all about rescuing dogs and cats, when it’s really funding vegan advocacy campaigns.