Jun 20 2011
HSUS’s Animal-Care (In)Efficiency
In response to criticism about its spending practices, the Humane Society of the United States is fond of saying that it “provides hands-on care to more animals than any other organization.” It’s a strong talking point, and as far as we can tell, it’s true–if you exclude many cattle feedlots, a handful of dairies, and an awful lot of chicken and egg producers. And a few large pet-store chains. (All those goldfish!) And the biomedical companies that breed mice for testing to seek cancer and AIDS cures.
But we digress. If nothing else, HSUS’s claim needs a little context. How efficient is HSUS’s hands-on animal care in comparison with other nonprofit groups?
It’s hard to say for certain how many animals HSUS cares for. From browsing through its 2009 annual report, we estimate that figure to be about 66,000: 10,000 animals via HSUS’s “animal rescue” team (although those are temporary care situations); 16,000 in veterinary treatment and wildlife sanctuaries; 40,000 spay/neuter cases during HSUS’s Spay Day (also temporary). Unlike in previous years, HSUS didn’t break it all down in a nice info-box in 2009, so there’s some guesswork involved.
If anything, our number is probably overly generous. HSUS says that those 40,000 spay/neuter procedures were “performed by nearly 400 organizers in 24 countries during HSUS and HSI Spay Day events.”—which sounds like HSUS itself hardly saw any of them. And as the indispensable YesBiscuit! blog has showed us, HSUS’s “rescues” sometimes result in certain death for many “saved” animals anyway.
HSUS’s total expenses were about $130 million, meaning that it spent about $1,970 for every animal it provided with hands-on care. How does this number stack up against real humane societies?
The Kentucky Humane Society is on Worth magazine’s “Top Ten Most Fiscally Responsible Charities” list. (HSUS no longer makes the cut.) KHS says it adopted out or spayed/neutered 15,194 animals in 2009, with a budget of about $4.7 million. That‘s just $309 per animal.
The Al-Van Humane Society in Michigan says it provides shelter and food for 3,000 animals a year. And in 2009, its budget was $172,474. That’s less than $58 per animal.
Florida’s Halifax Humane Society says 15,000 animals pass through its shelter every year. Its 2009 budget was about $1.8 million. That works out to $120 per animal.
The Greenville Humane Society in South Carolina spays and neuters 10,500 animals a year on a budget of $1.2 million. That’s $114 per animal.
It seems clear to us that HSUS adopted its “we care for more animals than anyone else” line to puff up its image and deflect our criticism that it shares less than 1 percent of its budget with the shelters that do most of the real work. If HSUS agreed to spend 50 percent of its budget on funding pet shelters, it could do a lot more for animals directly.
HSUS has other spending priorities, of course—such as shoveling millions into its pension plan and paying millions more to lobbyists. It also maintains a staff of 30 lawyers to pursue its animal rights agenda in the courts. (HSUS funds this activity by raising money with its misleading cat-and-dog public image.)
We would expect that HSUS employees—many of whom read this blog regularly, judging from our server logs—might respond that lobbying helps save animals too. That may be, but it certainly doesn’t count as hands-on care. And HSUS’s lobbying doesn’t always extend animals’ lives: Hens in HSUS-favored “cage-free” systems have higher rates of disease and death, for instance.
For animal-loving Americans who want their donations to care for cats and dogs instead of lobbyists and lawyers, their local humane societies will give them the best bang for their buck—without all of HSUS’s baggage and excuses.
Posted on 06/20/2011 at 02:59 PM by the HumaneWatch Team
The Best of HumaneWatch • Fundraising & Money • Pets • (7) CommentsComments
The Kentucky Humane Society is on Worth magazine’s “Top Ten Most Fiscally Responsible Charities” list. (HSUS no longer makes the cut.) KHS says it adopted out or spayed/neutered 15,194 animals in 2009, with a budget of about $4.7 million. That‘s just $309 per animal.
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Yeah indeed KHS would spend less that HSUS because they kill more animals than they spay / nueter, adopt or foster. I see it everyday in the post of animals on their death row with only hours or less to live!!!
I heard about your website on Mark Levine radio show on my way home from work. Thank you for the information and I thought I was used by Hsus ad image. Last Dec I saw the poor dog image on Internet and felt I need to do something for these poor dogs and cats I donate $25 to this org every single month. What a fool I have been. I have 3 dogs myself and two of them I adopted from the street.
Tomorrow first thing in the morning I will cancel my donation and HSUS will not get one penny from me anymore.
Please also cite some honest animal shelters in northern California as I will move my donation locally as you suggested.
Kassandriah, the being lover from California
Keep up the good work
Boy oh boy animal rights people are something aren’t they!
Laura, I think if you read between the lines, one of the points this website is trying to make is that if more people donated directly to hands-on shelters vs. groups like HSUS, they’d have more financial resources for adoption programs, spay/neuter clinics, etc.
I don’t have any direct experience with shelters (my background is more ag-related), but I’m reasonably sure each shelter deals with slightly different regulatory rules, economic environments, and community support depending on their state and locale. If it is a personnel issue, that’s usually a case-by-case basis, but really, many times it comes down to resources and usually there is alot of differing factors that determine the haves from the have-nots.
If the nation’s shelters really had a umbrella group working FOR them, they’d be using some that funding on their mass media to provide an interactive sharing section for shelters to discuss best practices. Instead they charge damn near a year’s salary ($25,000) for a what?....an audit that may take a day or two to complete. Do you of anyone whose time and advice is worth that much in gold? Especially when you’re taking it out of the hide of an already under-funded pet shelter. Hmmmmm, sounds like blatant greed to me!
I am not a greed loving person, I am an animal advocate and activist. I don’t always have money to donate to anyone for any cause but when I do it does go to animals only. AS for handing over money directly to animal shelters that is not a safe option either. Many times that money is pocketed by staff and or employees and it never gets to its intended destination. I have seen this happen umteen times in my 50+ years and it happens everywhere.
And I still stand strong in my opinions, no animal should have to die because of space, that is just stupid and ridiculous and it needs to stop. Better ways to run the shelters need to be found and its going to take intelligent people to do it. There are just too many lazy incompetent people in charge of running the shelters today, they need to change the way they think or get out of the business and let someone who truly loves animals take over. End of story!!
We have watched HSUS sponsored groups such as Days End DEFHR assist in horse seizures and produced bills such as the following 2 horses for 4 1/2 months at a cost of over $16,000. Currently looking after some Arabian horses at a cost excluding farrier and vet of $2000.00 per month FOR EACH HORSE.
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‘Judging by server logs,’ I don’t know how those HSUS employees can see all this information without feeling just a little bit guilty about their mission.They question the integrity of everyone in the ag industry and work diligently to put them under a shadow in the consumer’s eyes. Look at the figures people….. whose values are ‘morally suspect’ in this case?
My neighbors go to bed worrying about whether a hail storm will wipe out their crop or if a health outbreak will wipe out their herd. They work under weather extremes and 24/7 schedules. They bend over backwards to meet gov regulations and consumer demand. You will never meet a community of people with greater work ethic and moral obligation while balancing business dynamics along side animal well-being and public health. It takes some mighty shoulders to take on all that.
Now after reading that blog….who you gonna believe? Animal right greed and propaganda OR the professionals that invest themselves every day in understanding the needs of animals and the consuming public. The answer seems pretty easy to me.