What did I do wrong?” “Why did they hurt me?” “Why did they abandon me?” These are the questions that flash on your television screen over pictures of injured and abandoned cats and dogs.
Anybody with an ounce of compassion wants to help these poor animals. Then comes the pitch: “For just $19 a month, you can join the Humane Society of the United States in our fight to eliminate animal abuse everywhere.”
But where does that $19 a month go? Does it go to protecting the cats and dogs pictured in the television ads? Nope. According their most recent tax return, less than 1 percent of the Humane Society of the United States’ annual budget actually goes to local pet shelters.
A reprehensible bait and switch — using photos of animals at shelters to gather donations; then redirecting the money donated to six-figure executive salaries, flashy ad campaigns, and high-profile lawsuits against the livestock industry.
It’s better to give directly to no-kill, non-profit charities like North Shore Animal League that actually do something to rescue the animals than give these people a dime.
