There is a vast difference between your local humane society and the Humane Society of the United States, which you may know as HSUS.

While I’m going to give a brief overview, humanewatch.org is a great resource if you’d like to dive deeper than this singular blog post.

While their names are similar, your local humane society and the Humane Society of the United States are very different. I get it, their intentionally misleading branding may lead you to believe they’re the national entity representing the whole of respective local and state entities, but they’re not. 

Your local humane society most likely does a lot in your local community. From housing and caring for companion animals like dogs and cats, they may also have low-cost clinics focusing on the health and well-being of your pets and other pets in your community, and assist in the placement of homeless companion animals. They’re funded by donations and a lot of volunteers.

Yes, absolutely, if you truly want to help animals in your community, donate or volunteer at your local shelter.

Moving on to HSUS, which was founded in 1954 with the purpose of “helping” all animals. You know them from commercials featuring Sarah McLachlan's song, "Angel," alongside the sad, lonely, discarded puppies and kittens. It’s easy to assume the donations they’re seeking are filtered down to local shelters, but, unfortunately, this is not the case.

Very little of the money HSUS receives is directed to actually helping animals in need. In fact, only about 1 percent of donations are released to local shelters. To put this into crystal-clear perspective, this means the discarded puppies and kittens used to fundraise Just $19 a month didn’t see cent of any donation.

Additionally, there are no HSUS-sponsored adoption facilities.

And, not surprisingly, they recently dropped to a two-star rating with Charity Navigator, which is commonly known as the authority on rating charity organizations.

Bottom line: they’re shady.

The Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF), which is the legal arm of HSUS, has offices in D.C. and lobbies congressmen to limit animal ownership and animal industries.

Their goal is simple: eat plants, not meat. 

Before we go any further, let’s establish that I don’t care what you eat. Eat plant-based chicken nuggets, if you want. But, maybe call them what they are: plant nuggets.

Eat beans formed into the shape of a traditional beef burger and support your local bean farmer!

Here’s the brief, overly simplified version of why I have an issue with HSUS:

1. They take money from hard-working Americans and are not honest about how they’re spending it.

2. They spread false information.
   

HSUS and HSFL are no friend to farmers. You may wonder, “what do they do with all that money you send them?” They target farmers and ranchers through legislation by starting with city council ordinances, then onto state laws, and then finally at a federal level. Their work starts as a small slow burning ember without a large audience, then as it catches hold, the whole place is soon up in flames before anyone notices.

The Humane Society of the United States is set on destroying farming, one step at a time, quietly, city by city, state by state. 

So, what do you do when you see an issue backed by HSUS?

Ask a farmer how this directly impacts their farming or ranching business and dig a little deeper to discover motive.