HSUS Tolerant Toward Animal Agriculture? (audio)
By Megan Pierce
| Tuesday, June 30, 2009
In an interview with AgriTalk’s host Mike Adams, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) president Wayne Pacelle denied that his group is trying to shut down the livestock industry. “I don’t think in any practical way you can say we are trying to eliminate animal agriculture,” he said.
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A vegetarian himself, Pacelle claims that HSUS is not trying to push a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, and that his personal dietary choices are his choices and don’t influence the work of HSUS. In contrast to this statement, HSUS does offer a guide to vegetarian eating on its Web site.
The question was dodged when host Mike Adams asked Pacelle what expertise HSUS has that makes it more of an expert on animal welfare than veterinarians. Pacelle said there was no authority on which confinement method was right, and that each side can probably find science to back its case. Yet, he fell back on the notion that since we live in a representative democracy, the people should decide. HSUS is well-known for setting up ballot initiatives on these types of issues.
Pacelle says Ohio is still top-of-mind for a ballot initiative, criticizing the proactive measure the Ohio agriculture industry took in forming the Ohio Livestock Animal Care Board. Pacelle went on to say they are looking at various other states for initiatives similar to the Prop 2 measure that passed in California last fall.
Asked to specify the amount of HSUS funding that goes to local animal shelters, Pacelle responded, “It depends on how you define animal shelters." He went on to say that the group does a lot of support work, such as shutting down puppy mills, which helps accomplish the same objective. And, he said not all animal-welfare causes revolve around dogs and cats. “We have other issues that we want to work on,” he said.
How should livestock respond to HSUS? If you have an opinion, log on and vote at www.agritalk.com.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 1), AgriTalk will host an open line for listeners to call in and discuss the interview with Pacelle. The phone number to call is: (888) 247-4825
