"What would you do if your kitten was kidnapped and abused? What if your dog was tortured by teenagers in a gang ritual? What if you knew of a trailer where dogs and cats had been abandoned, living without food, fresh air, or someone to take care of them?" So begins a letter from HSUS (Humane Society of the U.S.) sent to my home earlier this week, one of two letters from that organization along with another from ASPCA (American SPCA) received in a single day.
What is the answer to the questions asked by HSUS (above)? Well, if you want to get help for those animals, the answer most certainly is not "call HSUS." A call to HSUS will not help the kidnapped kitten, the tortured dog, nor the animals confined to a trailer. That is because HSUS does not investigate animal abuse and neglect here in the Bay Area. The local humane societies, SPCAs and animal care and control agencies are the right organizations to call. For San Mateo County, Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA is the right organization to call. Not HSUS.
Similarly, the letter from ASPCA asks for a contribution "to help the ASPCA in our fight against animal cruelty." An important and in every way noble cause but once again the wrong folks are asking for your support. It is the local humane societies, SPCAs and animal care and control agencies here in the Bay Area, not ASPCA, who are (quoting from their letter) helping "neglected cats rescued from a hoarding situation...a puppy found brutally beaten by the owner...starving, injured horses rescued from a life of pain and despair...pets separated from their families in the wake of natural disasters." Not ASPCA.
HSUS and ASPCA do good work. They just do not do the work they cite in their letters.
Your local organizations are working hard to protect the animals. Despite the "I love animals" socks (honestly, who thought that was a good idea?), greeting cards and other membership "gifts" sent to us here in the Bay Area by ASPCA (located in New York City) and HSUS (headquartered in Washington D.C.), it is your local organizations which are doing this work.