HSUS: the Sportsmen's devil, and PETA losing credibility

Pet lovers would feel cheated if they knew that the majority of their donations to the biggest animal rights organizations — the Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) do very little to help dogs and cats.The biggest expenditure of your 'only $19 per month' donations goes toward filing frivolous lawsuits, and more lately, ballot initiatives. These force sportsmen groups and wildlife agencies to spend their valuable and limited resources defending modern game management practices, including fishing, hunting, trapping, land acquisition, habitat improvement, stocking and population monitoring.How many more deer would have been hit by motorists without the service of hunters who removed 182,169 deer in Ohio this past season? In the absence of large, dangerous predators, the alternative to deer hunting is population increases leading to catastrophic overbrowsing and crop damage; dangerous and costly automobile/motorcycle deer collisions and eventually malnutrition and disease.Yet according to HSUS Director Wayne Pacelle, "If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would. Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cockfighting and dog fighting."Noting that hunters are now a minority, he says "We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States."Instead of donating money to fight ballot initiatives, sportsmen would rather purchase and improve wildlife habitats and reap their rewards through sustainable, legal fish and game harvest.After all, sportsmen have historically been the ones who cared enough about the well-being of the game populations that they love to pursue that they insured that the habitats that animals require were preserved.If so much of Lake Erie's marshy shorelines weren't set aside as hunting clubs, they would have likely been destroyed through farming or development. Many are currently enjoyed by all sorts of users, who are getting a free ride, courtesy of hunter's purchases of annual hunting licenses and tags; excise taxes on guns, ammunition and hunting-related products.HumaneWatch is an off-shoot of the Center for Consumer Freedom which publicizes the deceptive practices of animal rights groups. They accuse the HSUS of capitalizing on natural disasters, such as hurricanes to collect millions of dollars under the pretext of helping displaced pets, but spending only thousands toward these efforts.Furthermore, while pleading for money from people to help pets, they instead spend only about 1 percent on animal shelters. They include a Fund for Animals horse sanctuary in Texas, wildlife center in California specializing in raptor and cat rehabilitation and a South Florida facility.HumaneWatch also alleges that the HSUS:— HSUS paid 6 million dollars in 2014 to settle cases of fraud, racketeering and bribery litigation— Charity Navigator issued a "Donor Advisory" against HSUS— Charity Watch continues to give HSUS a grade of "D"— Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt opened an investigation on HSUS fundraising practicesThe actors at PETA, who admits to being 'press sluts' have dressed in vegetable or silly animal costumes to protest zoos, aquariums, assistance dogs, rodeos, circuses and the use of meat, wool, feathers, silk, leather, and fur.They told children to "drink beer instead of milk" and "Your mommy is a murderer" (for eating meat) and re-named fish, 'sea kittens.'Founder Ingrid Newkirk has famously repeated and reworked her "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy" quote implying that animals are equal to humans.In fact, she showed her preference for animals over human life with the statement that, "even if medical research using animals would cure AIDS, I'd be against it."Her most incredulous quote is, "The extinction of Homo sapiens would mean survival for millions, if not billions of Earth-dwelling species. Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on Earth-social and environmental."This is not a credible organization that deserves any following, but attention-starved celebrities continue to endorse PETA, which has even supported domestic eco-terrorists that destroyed animal research facilities.In a Huffington Post column, Nathan Winograd, Director of No Kill Advocacy center, claims that PETA has killed over 30,000 pets since 2002. PETA employees were caught disposing their dogs and cats into a grocery store dumpster in North Carolina in 1995. How ironic is it that they can justify domestic, but not wild animal population control?Those who truly wish to support pet shelters, especially sportsmen, should donate ONLY to local shelters and never to the deceptive HSUS or PETA.Register outdoors writer John Hageman.