FORMER EMPLOYEES QUESTION HSUS PRACTICES, MOTIVATIONS
According to HumaneWatch.org, the online HSUS watchdog, two former employees of the Humane Society resigned their jobs with the organization’s animal rescue team over “questionable practices” that included HSUS personnel wearing badges to falsely suggest that they were law enforcement officers.
The information about these and other dubious practices is contained in court documents associated with an ongoing $5 million lawsuit against HSUS by a South Dakota hunting dog breeder. In 2009, the HSUS Emergency Services team participated in a “raid” on the breeder’s facility based on a search warrant that the court later determined was wrongfully obtained.
As a result of the raid, the breeder’s dogs were seized by HSUS, and animal cruelty charges filed. Later, all of the animal cruelty charges were dropped, but the dogs, which HSUS had “humanely removed” from the property, were never returned to their owner. Humanewatch reports that some dogs died (presumably while in HSUS custody); others may have been adopted out. The breeder was forced into bankruptcy.
The resignation emails sent to HSUS President Wayne Pacelle from the two employees reportedly went into depth about their concerns regarding HSUS handling of its “rescue” activities. According to Humanewatch, “The allegations range from poor management in transporting animals from a puppy mill seizure to illegal, unafe or unethical actions such as overloading vehicles and driving through floodwaters.”
One of the disgusted employees wrote, “When the motivation for the work done becomes the publicity and the accolades received, then we have lost sight of why we do what we do. I could no longer put my professional reputation on the line or risk being arrested or sued because you chose to bend of break the law and disregard response protocols.”
This isn’t the first time that a lawsuit against HSUS has revealed the organization’s propensity for unethical behavior. Earlier this year, Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, won a $9.3 million settlement against HSUS after it was discovered that the animal rights giant had participated in paying former circus employees to testify that performing elephants had been abused by their handlers. After the payments, which exceeded $150,000, came to light, the testimony was rejected as “not credible” by the judge.