On Friday the Humane Society of the United States shut the doors of its Billings, Montana office for good. (It was officially known as the Northern Rockies Regional Office.)

Is this the start of a trend? Will HSUS be closing more field offices? Time will tell.

The organization hasn't really trimmed back its lobbying efforts in Montana. (The now-shuttered office was a lobby shop, not an animal care facility.) The three lobbyists who staffed the office will keep doing what they were doing, but do it out of their homes. But it's worth noting that the Billings office was also considered HSUS's "Western Regional Office," serving 13 U.S. states.

A reasonable way to look at this is that HSUS—like just about every institution in America—is trimming back on overhead costs. In today's economy, spending money on copy machines and rent instead of caring for animals just might make a "humane society" look less than honest.

Wait—scratch that. HSUS isn't in the business of actually caring for animals, from what we've all learned so far. Why should they care what the public thinks?

HSUS's letter to Montana animal activists announcing the office closure is after the jump.

From: Sylvia Lee [mailto:slee@humanesociety.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 12:03 PM
To:
Subject: Closing of HSUS WRO Office

Colleagues, Friends and Associates,

After more than 19 years, The HSUS Northern Rockies Regional Office/Western Regional Office will close its doors on June 4th.

Though the physical office is closing the HSUS team will still be here in Billings to offer assistance and resources in whatever capacity The HSUS can offer.

Dave Pauli, now Senior Director Wildlife Response for the Animal Care Centers will be base camping his programs out of a home office and garage storage space. Dave will be working on projects for the five HSUS Animal Care Centers and high impact national and international wildlife projects.

Wendy Hergenraeder joined our team in October 2009 and is the Montana State Director for State Affairs. Wendy is now the primary contact for all HSUS Montana based activity. Wendy and Dave will both be lobbying the 2011 legislature for animal issues.

Sylvia Lee who helped open the doors for the original Northern Rockies Regional Office in 1991 splits time supporting both State Affairs and Wildlife Response projects.

Below is our new contact information.

Dave Pauli – Senior Director for Wildlife Response
4235 Zephyr Lane
Billings, MT 59106
wildquests@aol.com or dpauli@hsus.org
406-698-1167 cell
406-652-3195 phone (Fax the same but must call first)

Wendy Hergenraeder – Montana State Director
P.O. Box 21214
Billings, MT 59104
whergenraeder@hsus.org
406-633-0689

Sylvia Lee – Program Specialist/Admin. Assistant
P.O. Box 21214
Billings, MT 59104
slee@hsus.org
406-255-7161 phone (Fax the same but must call first)

Related People

• Dave Pauli
{REL[2503][relate-blog-to-people]m231UyzAREL}
• Wendy Hergenraeder

Related Organizations

• Humane Society of the United States