Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist
Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, Senior Elections correspondent at the
Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge.
As always, you can email the show at radio at
the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at FDR LST,
make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and
of course to the premium version of our website as well.
Our guest today is Jack Hubbard, executive director of the
Center for the Environment and Welfare CEW. Recently announced the
launch of a new public education campaign to address an
urgent and growing christ the mass euthanasia of homeless pets
across the country. The campaign to debuts with part one
of a three part mini documentary series, Fat Cats and
Dead Dogs. It exposes how powerful animal charities like the
ASPCA and PETA raise hundreds of millions of dollars each
year while shelter pets are left behind. The series is
paired with an investigative report that backs up the story
with hard data. Jack, thank you so much for joining
us in this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour.
Speaker 2: Oh thanks for having me, Matt.
Speaker 1: There's some disturbing numbers here, and I think what is
disturbing two animal lovers? Animal lovers who you know, for
years have thought about the ASPCA, even for some PETA,
although we know PETA in its tactics over the years.
But you know, you think about the ASPCA and you think, oh, well,
you know, this is an organization that is absolutely committed,
full on to saving animals lives, and that may be
part of what they do. But they have other priorities
as well, do they not?
Speaker 3: They do, yeah, And unfortunately some of those priorities are
somewhat self serving. I mean, we've all seen the ads
on television. I'm sure many of your listeners have seen
the ads on Fox News at Night featuring Sarah McLaughlin
with the sad song.
Speaker 2: And cam Oh my God differing in cages.
Speaker 3: Yes, you watch those and they just break your heart
and you want to reach for your wallet and give.
And every single year Americans do give. I mean, the
ASPCA's budget last year was three hundred and fifty six
million dollars.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's unbelievable how much money they have raised
with these you know, this fundraising apparatus. But when you
dig into the numbers. It becomes very disturbing and frankly
somewhat depressing and outrageous how they're spending a lot of
this money. Because when the public sees those ads and
they hear the name ASPCA, they you know, logically, say, oh,
this is a group that is an umbrella organization for
shelters across the country, and that's not the case. They
run one adoption center in New York City and they
have nothing to do with local SpCas. I should say,
they're unaffiliated with local SpCas and humane societies across the country.
And we dug into their tax returns and uncover the
fact that only an estimated one percent of that huge
budget is going to local shelters across the country as
financial grants.
Speaker 1: Really one percent out of all of that the hundreds
of millions of dollars. So that begs the question, I'm
sure you will, you will tell us where does that
money go?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that that's a complicated question. But the good news
is is that when you go through the group's IRS
nine ninety form, which is something that may be difficult
or challenging for an average donor, but we have a
group of researchers here that you know, go through it
every single year. We uncovered that they're paying their CEO
one point two million dollars a year. So the CEO
of the ASPCA, his name is Matt Birdshocker. This is
a guy who is paid last year one point two
million dollars.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's good to be a bird shocker, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: I you know, I sometimes joke with people. You know,
a three hundred and fifty six million dollar budget and
a shelter in New York City, it must be the
mar Lago of pet shelters with gold plated kennels. With
that much money, I mean, it is unbelievable how much
money they raise. They have three hundred and eighty five
staffers who make over one hundred thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: And what's sad is that the local shelters in communities
all across the US are underfunded, overwhelmed with tons of
animals a lot of time, their facilities are crumbling or
in desperate need of capital investment. And a lot of
their you know, workers are volunteers or people who make
you know, little to no money, and they are on
the front lines of this euthanasia crisis.
Speaker 2: And then you have this.
Speaker 3: Ga charity, the ASPCA, that's spending tens of millions of
dollars a year on advertisements on TV, direct mail letters,
executive salaries, and the money just isn't making it to
the local shelters like a lot of donors expect. So
you know, we're simply out there telling folks, if you
want to fund this massive apparatus, be my guest, but
do your homework, and if you're actually interested in helping
local shelters in your community, do your research and give local.
Go visit your local shelter. Because six hundred thousand cats
and dogs are euthanized in this country each year. I
mean that's I think our team put together the statistic.
It's almost one animal every minute it is being killed.
Speaker 1: You know, it's enough to fill old Madison Square garden
thirty times over. That should put it all in perspective.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, trying to get people understand how many
animals that is is not an easy thing because sometimes
when you talk big numbers, it starts to wash over
your head and it's hard to fathom. But yeah, filling
Madison Square garden thirty times over is how many animals
get euthanized in this country every year. And what's even
worse is that since twenty twenty, shelter euthanasia totals have
increased by forty three percent since that year. So I'm
sitting there asking myself. You have groups like the ASPCA,
we can talk in a little bit about Humane World
for Animals, IMPEDA, which are their own animals, No pun intended.
They're not solving the problem. The problem is getting worse.
And collectively these three groups are raising over six hundred
million dollars a year, I mean, wow, and half a
billion dollars, and yet we have a forty three percent
increase in euthanasias. They likely could have taken all their
money and cared for all those animals, but they don't.
I mean, they have hundreds of millions of dollars some
of these groups sitting in investments earning interest. At the
Humane World for Animals, they have ninety million dollars in
offshore Caribbean accounts, you know, earning interest and growing. And
I simply asked the question, what donor wants their donation
to be on vacation in the Caribbean.
Speaker 2: None?
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, yeah, Now that raises a very good point.
I mean, well, first and foremost, six hundred and thirty
million dollars between these entities, how much would it cost
just to board a dog for a year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I'm going to get myself in trouble
here because a lot of people in the shelter and
rescue community have strong opinions. One group has estimated it's
nine hundred and fifty dollars for a year to care
for an animal. Okay, we can have a debate whether
it's higher or lower. Bottom line, there is no shortage
of money in this movement to take care of these animals,
and it's simply not going to the front lines. It's
not going to the local shelters where animals are being
euthanized as financial grants.
Speaker 2: And what's really sad.
Speaker 3: Is that these groups are sitting on massive rainy day
funds and it is pouring rain for six hundred thousand
cats and dogs that are getting killed in this country
every year, while that money sits in an investment account or,
sits in assets and isn't deployed. And I think it's
a national scandal, and donors get very very upset about this,
But we simply need to educate them so that they
direct their funds to the right places. Now there's a
whole other issue going on where not only are these
groups not supporting shelters in a meaningful level with financial grants,
you know, a dollar out of every hundred, but the
other nefarious thing that's going on is these groups seem
to have been co opted by a group of people
that have a political.
Speaker 2: Anti met vegan agenda.
Speaker 3: And at least the ASPCA and the Humane World for
Animals raise an awful lot of money with images of
cats and dogs, but then they spend a lot of
money attacking farmers on Capitol Hill, attacking a role Erica,
pressuring companies, you know, the Human World for Animals has
a campaign where they're trying to pressure restaurant and food
service companies to make fifty percent of their menu animal
free with you know, you know, kale beans and tofu
to save the planet. And so there's some really weird
nefarious stuff going on in these groups. But at the
heart of it is a fundraising machine that, in my opinion,
exploits images of cats and dogs to fund a very
very radical agenda that many Americans don't support.
Speaker 1: It is raining cats and dogs in this crisis, and
I would imagine for those waking up to this, this
has to feel like a fraud because you have people
who are giving out of you know, the kind of
their hearts, real animal lovers out there that do not
want to see these dogs euthanize. I can tell you.
I mean my daughter who one day wants to run
an animal shelter. She's just her heart is all about dogs,
basically animals in general. And you know, she sobs as
she's looking at that shelter in Houston that takes in
so many dogs it has to euthanize, you know, so
many dogs a day, and they have you know, little
video showing you know, Fido here has twenty four hours
or you know, tomorrow's his execution day. And then you
learn Fido didn't make it. And maybe some you know,
carring people came through and adopted or fostered a dog
or something like that. But when you think about the
amount of money that you just talked about going through
the ASPCA and and PEDA and you know, a humane
world for animals these other organizations, it does feel a
great deal like a fraud. You've brought out the numbers
in this investigation, Do you conclude that that this is
this is basically a flawed a fraud perpetrated on giving Americans.
Speaker 3: Well, I definitely think it's misleading. I think the advertising
in many cases is deceptive in nature. And what I'll
tell you is, you know, these groups would respond to
that accusation by saying, well, hold on a minute, last
week we did a spe and newter clinic, or hey,
we center our animal rescue team, uh to you know,
some sort of animal cruelty situation last week, and we're
doing good work. And what I tell everyone is even
a broken clock is right twice a day. And I'm
not saying that these groups do no good for animals.
But what I am telling you, and I hear it
from shelter directors, is that the local shelter community and
many of its leaders are upset because these groups run
national ads in the communities of these local shelters, and
they vacuum up hundreds of millions of dollars from out
of local communities, and many shelter directors find themselves at
the end of the year in December calling some of
their donors saying, hey, we didn't receive your gift this
year and someone says, no, I did, I made a donation.
I donated one hundred dollars or one thousand dollars to
Humane World for Animals or a SPCA, and they said, well,
that's not us. And I can't tell you how many conversations.
And this is even a big problem in the will
in a state world, because there's a lot of folks who,
especially older folks, who include in their will and a
state ASPCA.
Speaker 2: Think oh, sure, yeah, that's.
Speaker 3: The SPCA of insert whatever county or city, and little
did they know, the money's actually not going to the
local group. It's going to a sky, you know, to
a big building in Manhattan, to a guy that's making
one point two million dollars running a charity.
Speaker 4: Talking heads are preaching that you're entitled to your social security,
but are you the Watch Dout on Wall Street podcast
with Chris Markowski every day Chris helps unpack the connection
between politics and the economy and how it affects your wallet.
Two Supreme Court decisions have said connors can cancel social
Security tomorrow and you can get nothing. You may want
to believe the Social Security man, but you're not entitled
to it. Whether it's happening in DC or down on
Wall Street, it's affecting you financially.
Speaker 1: Be informed.
Speaker 4: Check out the Watchdot on Wall Street podcast with Chris
Markowski on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or.
Speaker 1: It's going, you know, to the Caribbean and having my
tides's I mean, this is this is this is some
sad stuff.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: A lot of the problem that we're seeing with so
many animals euthanized has to do with space. It's just
not enough space to hold these animals. Sure wouldn't the ASPCA, PETA,
the other groups, wouldn't they be better served to use
some of that massive amount of money those very generous
donations on shelter space. Are we seeing any of that
out there?
Speaker 3: I wish that they were directing funds to local shelters
to help them improve their facilities and expand so that
less analysts could be euthanized. But it's just not happening
that the The the wackiest and most outrageous part of
this report focuses on the group PETA. Your your listeners,
I'm sure they've heard of PETA, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. These are the folks that you know,
throw you know, paint out, you know they do. They
do all of the theatrics in the street to protest
eating meat, you know, for you name it, drinking milk.
That they view everything as abuse.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure they're even opposed to honey because that's
b exploitation, which is crazy to me. That PETA does
run a shelter, and their shelter is located in Norfolk, Virginia,
and they've been running that shelter for years. And we
got a hold of Virginia state records because in the
state of Virginia, shelters have to report their euthanasia rate
and numbers. And for this group that is attacking anyone
who eats a hamburger, calling it murder or drinks a
glass of milk.
Speaker 2: As being exploitation.
Speaker 3: This is a group that, since nineteen ninety eight at
A shelter has euthanized eighty percent of the cats and
dogs that it has received.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I wouldn't.
Speaker 3: Call it a shelter. I mean it is a killing operation.
What's on over there, it's death row. It is one
of the highest kill shelters in the state of Virginia,
and the fact that these people then have the nerve
to protest people or brands or companies or restaurants, you know,
for serving natural, farm raised animal protein when they're killing
all of these cats and dogs in the shelter is
literally one of the most hypocritical things I have ever
come across in all my years in Washington, DC.
Speaker 1: You know why I think that is Jack, Why these
peda people act so insane. It seems to me, I
believe it's because they're not getting enough protein meat. I
think that's I think that's what it is. I mean, listen,
I have gone a day or two without you know,
a burger or a pork chop or what have you.
I get a little, I get a little cranky myself.
So I think that's really what we need to look into.
But in all seriousness, I mean that is astounding. Eighty
percent of the animals that come into the Pita shelter
in Virginia are put down. Is that the merciful treatment
of animals that they are pitching to two Americans?
Speaker 3: You know, I wish I could explain uh their behavior,
It's it's impossible for me to do. So I suspect
that they have sort of a sick you know, better
dead than bread.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: These are people that don't think.
Speaker 3: You should ever, you know, by uh a purchase, be
allowed to purchase a dog. And you know, I have
a more nuanced position on that. I I always encourage
everybody to go and uh go to the local shelter
because you could find a four legged you know, friend
to who becomes a member or family.
Speaker 2: And it's just so enriching.
Speaker 3: I have kids, I've seen that human animal bond and
how and riching it is for a family and children.
But there are people that have preferences, allergies, all sorts
of things. You know, my wife is horrible allergy. So
we had to find a dog that was right for
a family that didn't make her miserable. And we couldn't
find one of a shelter. So we found a humane breeder.
And there's nothing wrong with that. You know, you do
have to do your homework and make sure you choose
a responsible, ethical person. But you know, PETA has this
worldview that you know, it seems like they view.
Speaker 2: Pet ownership almost as slavery in some ways.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, it's their record is very clear to
any rational any irrational human being out there. We are
a dog family. We have two dogs that came from
a responsible breeder, and we have been fosters for some
time now at the local animal shelter. In fact, we
have what we all a failed foster are pup happy.
She has made us very happy, and she has also
grayed my hair even more so as my children have
done over the years. But you know, you're absolutely right
that kind of bond is priceless. And yet we have
hundreds of millions of dollars pouring into this system, and
it seems to me manipulating so many people with who
have good intentions, and the money is just not going
to what they believe it is aimed at. Our guest
today is Jack Hubbard, executive director of the Center for
Environment and Welfare. CEW. Recently announced the launch of a
new public education campaign to address an urgent and growing crisis,
the mass euthanasia of homeless pets across the country. They've
got a documentary coming out. We're going to talk more
about that in just a bit. But Jack, you mentioned
this before. I just did a story at The Federalist
about the homelessness crisis in America and how these leftist groups,
I mean hundreds of them and the amount of money
that pours into them have co opted this issue for
radical leftist causes well beyond homelessness. You know, these are
people who are involved in the No Kings marches and
people who are involved in you know, anti ice demonstrations,
all of that sort of thing. You mentioned that that
is going on with these massive organizations that are supposed
to be devoted to animals, they're actually getting into more
left wing causes. Can you go into that a little
bit more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, So.
Speaker 3: We were talking a minute ago about PETA, and just
to showcase how connected a lot of these groups are,
the Humane World for Animals, which was until last year
was called the Humane Society the United States. They changed
their name to the Humane World for Animals. Their CEO,
her name is Kitty Block, and Kitty you earned six
hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year and she was
a former lawyer for PTA. So she comes from this
peda anti meat, vegan advocacy world.
Speaker 2: And when you actually look at what.
Speaker 3: The Humane World for Animals is doing on Capitol Hill,
they're working with some very very far left politicians, people
like Corey Booker and others you know who buy into this,
you know, vegan narrative. They believe that, you know, raising
animals for food is destroying the planet. They're running a
campaign pressuring restaurants and college campuses to make their menus
fit fifty percent plant based, eliminating animals on the menu
any sort of natural, farm raised protein. And you have
this group that's raised all of this money or much
of this money with cat and dog imagery, and then
you've got them running around Capitol Hill and lobbying for
some of the most draconian, anti anti family farm legislation
and proposals we have ever seen. And they have a
vision of the future that doesn't involve family farms raising
animals for food. They view it as cruel and inhumane.
And you know, if they get their way, what the
American public is going to see is sky high grocery bills.
We're already seeing it, as they've passed some legislation in
Californian Massachusetts that's having a national impact on pork and eggs.
Speaker 1: Yes, I can tell you that from where I'm broadcasting
in the De Woine metro area, that is a huge
issue in the state of Iowa.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, because what's happening is they are they're very
manipulative in the way that they're operating, and that what
they're doing is they're going state to state to try
to create a patchwork of state laws that make it
impossible for farmers in this country to operate. So they
they and some of their allies spend eighteen million dollars
to pass a California law, and now farmers in Iowa,
you know, we're Nebraska, essentially need to gut or bulldoze
their barns and rebuild them to be California compliant. And
these groups are passing laws in different states that are
slightly different. And we know that their long term goal
is that they want to reduce the consumption of meat
in this country, so they're always moving goalposts. But again,
they're doing all of this this nefarious sort of left
wing vegan climate change narrative. They're doing it on the
backs of cats and dog imagery that I believe are
being exploited. And what bothers me is that if they
want to go pursue that agenda, they should feel free
to do it. And if someone wants to fund that agenda,
so be it. And I'll have a different point of
view and try to counter it. But raising so much
money with the cat and dog imagery to then.
Speaker 2: Focus on.
Speaker 3: Chicken condos is I think very deceptive, and I think
it's a sleight of hand and I just think it's wrong.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned it too. I mean it's not just
the animal related you know, anti meat law be out there.
These are people that are partnering with extreme climate change cultists.
You know, they're partnering with the abortion industry. Interestingly enough,
there are people involved in this movement that are partnering
with the euthanage of human beings movement. So how much
of this is political at the end of the.
Speaker 3: Day, Oh, I think a ton of it is political,
and I think it's about especially with the group like
the Humane World for Animals IMPEDA. These are groups that
want to take away consumer choice. They want to in
some ways dictate what Americans can and cannot eat, and
they certainly want to dictate and use the long arm
of both state governments and the federal government to control
farmers and essentially tell them what they can and cannot do.
And what I tell folks is that we want family
farmers and veterinarians in the driver's seat of making these decisions,
not a group of people that have a very very
extreme political point of view and make no bones about
using government regulation to take away choice for Americans. And
the saddest thing about this out in addition to the
number of cats and dogs that are being left on
the sidelines killed while these guys are pursuing this very
very radical anti med agenda, is that low income Americans
are being hit the hardest. I mean, this is an
e leadist movement of far lef f wing operatives who
have seized on to this cultish meat is evil, farms
are bad, We need to control what people eat. And
we're seeing as a result of their legislation that inner
city minorities, low income rural Americans, they're being hit with
the higher prices as a result of all of all
this California compliance and all these humane humane World for
Animal mandates, and they don't seem to care. You know,
their response is, you should eat something else, you know,
you should.
Speaker 1: You don't need bugs, you should eat bugs. That's what
their response is. Oftentimes.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, and now some of these groups are even
you know, this is a separate topic, but Some of
these groups are even now advocating for something called lab
grown meat Yes, which is now legal to sell. Unbelievably
in the United States. PETA has been a cheerleader of
this segment.
Speaker 2: But this is not your This is not your Keenwa
burger or your black bean burger.
Speaker 3: This is taking animal cells, putting it in a bio reactor,
pumping it full of hormones and growth factor, and using
something called immortalized cells that replicate in perpetuity over and
over again, almost behaving like a tumor and growing eat.
And there are five companies in the United States that
you know, have been approved for sale of this stuff,
and the investors and backers of this you know, Bill Gates,
Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and that they see a whole
new world of food consumption in this country in the
face of a lack of long term health studies and
a lot of farmers going out of business. And you know,
when you start to go down the rabbit hole on
this stuff, it's deeply disturbing because this country has you know,
one of the strongest, most affordable and abundant supply chains
when it comes to food and farm raise, animal protein,
in the world, and they want to wreck it, and
they want to wreck it by raising hundreds of millions
of dollars featuring cats and dogs, turning you know, a
blind eye to six hundred thousand animals dead cats and
dogs one every minute, and instead are obsessed with attacking
farmers and getting meat off the dinner table.
Speaker 1: Well, Jack, the holidays are coming up and nothing says
happy Thanksgiving like lab grown meat. The tumor turkey is.
I know, it's a wonderful tradition in my family. And
that is horrifying. That is discusting on so many different levels.
But as you note, this is the operational basis, and
it's all being done with the emotional drive of these
images of dogs and cats. But it's, as you point out,
so much more than dogs and cats, and that's what
a lot of Americans are buying into unbeknownst to them.
Now you have this documentary, I believe, am I correct
that the first the first part is out right now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yes, the first part is out. You can find
it on our website www dot Environment and Welfare dot
com and on our YouTube page. And the first part
of this documentary highlights what's going on in terms of
these groups turning a blind eye to six hundred thousand
cats and dogs by ethan eye is the sky high
salaries these what I call factory fundraising operations that they've
propped up, and PETA's shocking kill rate six hundred million
dollars more than six hundred million dollars raised by these
three groups combined, and yet we have, you know, a
forty three percent increase in shelter youth in Asia since
twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: It's totally unacceptable.
Speaker 3: Part two will be coming out in the coming weeks,
and that's going to focus on the radical agenda of
these organizations, focused on you know, they're more vegan, anti
meque climate change narrative.
Speaker 2: And then Part.
Speaker 3: Three will focus on the dark you know, the the
left wing dark money network that is funneling a lot
of money into this movement for a whole variety of reasons.
I mean, some of it is some of these guys
are folks who made a lot of money and technology,
have become totally disconnected from normal regular society and believe,
you know, to their core that we need to eliminate,
you know, animal farming in this country. And there's some
guys that made an awful lot of money in the
tech industry that live in this tech San Francisco bubble
that that view this as the number one issue in society,
And to be honest, it's almost anti human. There's a
lot of other big issues going on in the world
that that could use philanthropy and support, And there's certainly
six hundred thousand cats and dogs that could use support
in local shelters, and instead you've got a bunch of
left wing financiers who are funding radical anti farming, anti
need agendas of these groups.
Speaker 1: Well, the fundraising aspect, I'm curious to know, as you've
dug into this issue, what is the IRS doing? Has
the IRS ever truly investigated or audited these organizations that
spend so much money on overhead and so little on
the ethical treatment of animals.
Speaker 3: You know, I can't speak to what the IRS has
done or hasn't done. What I can tell you is
they're still in business, and they're still operating the same
way they've always operated. And I think many of our
critiques are valid, and I think it deserves a fresh look.
I will tell you that Billy Long when he was
a congressman, I believe from Missouri. He signed a letter
alongside about a dozen other congressman asking the irs take
a look at these organizations because he was concerned about
deceptive fundraising, lobbying restrictions and things like that. Now I'm
not sure whatever came of that, nothing publicly that we
can that we're aware of. But what's happening I think
is just so so wrong and it's so sad. And
I'll tell you even the former CEO of the ASPCA
is a gentleman by the.
Speaker 2: Name of Ed Sayers.
Speaker 3: And Ed was head of a SPCA for I believe
about ten years and retired, you know, several years ago,
or stepped away from the organization. And Ed was the
guy who first greenlighted the Sarah McLachlin ad that sent
this whole movement into a frenzy. And fast forward to today,
six hundred million dollar annual machine.
Speaker 2: Right, and.
Speaker 3: Is somebody who cares deeply about cats and dogs, and
he is someone who cares deeply about local shelters, and
he led the ASPCA for a decade. He is now
working with us as a spokesperson to help blow the
whistle on what's going on because he is so upset
at this minuscule amount of money going to local shelters.
I mean, you have the former CEO of the ASPCA
that was essentially the godfather or creator of this fundraising strategy,
which I think he hoped would lead to tens or
even maybe hundreds of millions of dollars going to local shelters,
and what we've seen is the exact opposite. We've seen
the percentage of money going to local shelters drop to
just one percent as financial grants from the ASPCA.
Speaker 2: So I don't know what.
Speaker 3: The ASPCA board is doing in the rarefied air of
sitting in that boardroom in New York City. But when
you have the former CEO coming out and blowing the whistle,
when you have expos's in multiple news outlets calling your
organization to account, the board should be embarrassed, and the
board could tomorrow help solve the problem. The board could say,
moving forward, twenty percent of our annual budget is going
to go directly to local pet shelters. And I don't
even think that's enough. I think it should be more,
but that would make a huge impact, going from.
Speaker 2: One percent to twenty percent.
Speaker 3: They could say we're cutting our CEO salary from one
point two million dollars to five hundred thousand dollars, which
is still a heck of a lot of money.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: They could also rename themselves because when you hear a
you think it's a national umbrella organization for shelters, and
it's not. I've always contended they should be the ASPCA
of Manhattan, you know, and let people that are passionate
about helping pets in Manhattan in that shelter give there.
But none of that seems to, you know, when the
gravy train is flowing at the ASPCA to the tune
of you know, having an annual budget of three hundred
and fifty six million dollars. Our criticisms to date have
fallen on deaf ears.
Speaker 1: Yes, and they also did something that I believe is unforgivable,
and that is they stuck in the arms of the
angels in my head for years the Sarah McLachlan song
of course that plays over the sad images of dogs
with you know, matted for and what have you. But
at the end of the day, this is about consumer
protection as well, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And there's every state right now there's a little
bit of a blind spot at the federal level to
deal with consumer deception. I mean, you do have the FTC,
but that tends to be more focused on the exchange
of a good and service, right actually purchasing a product.
And the charity space in many ways is the wild West.
I mean we've seen charity scandals, military groups not directing
funds to veterans, misuse of funds. I mean it feels
like every two to three years there's a big charity scandal.
Most of the consumer donor perception deception laws live at
the state level, so it would really be incumbent, and
every state is a little different, but it would be
incumbent upon a state attorney general to look into some
of their fundraising practices on a state by state basis.
And I do remember Gosh who was probably over ten
years ago, when Scott Pruitt, who was Attorney general I
believe of Oklahoma, he led an inquiry into then called
the Humane Society the United States now called the Humane
World for Animals, and I think his criticism and concern was,
you're running ads featuring the name Humane Society the United
States in my state and you don't run a single
pet shelter.
Speaker 2: I mean It's.
Speaker 3: Hard to even fathom the nerve and you know, the
hutzpah of someone to run hundreds of millions of dollars
of ads.
Speaker 2: Over many years with a name like.
Speaker 3: The Humane Society the United States when that group literally
does not run a single pet shelter.
Speaker 2: That that just blew our mind.
Speaker 3: Now, we've been running this campaign for about three years,
educating the public. Obviously, lawmakers have seen our information as
we run it Nashally. Several media outlets have covered it,
and the Humane Society, under an enormous amount of pressure,
changed their name.
Speaker 2: To the Humane World for Animals. They're still sitting on.
Speaker 3: I mean, gosh, I think four hundred and fifty four
million dollars in assets, including ninety one million dollars in
offshore Caribbean accounts. You know those are ill gotten gains
from my perspective, and that much of that money was
raised using that name Humane Society the United States.
Speaker 2: And you know when you pulled.
Speaker 3: Donors and the public, you know, they overwhelmingly thought they
ran pet shelters and they simply did not. As I
said earlier, they're run by a former lawyer for PETA
and a run around pushing a anti farm, anti agriculture,
anti meat agenda.
Speaker 1: With a lot of money and a lot of money
going to campaign coffers, and so it's a very powerful lobby.
I don't think people, you know, most people fully understand
or know about and I'm glad that you are getting
the message out there. I mean, this is this is
information that people who care about animals should know. There's
another side to this story. The campaign debuts with part one,
a three part mini documentary series. It's called Fat Cats
and Dead Dogs. You can download that now at CEW's website.
It might be of interest to you if you are
an animal lover. Thanks to my guest today, Jack Hubbard,
Executive director of the Center for Environment and Welfare, you've
been listening to another edition of The Federalist Radio Hour.
I'm Matt Kittle's senior elections correspondent at The Federalist. We'll
be back soon with more. Until then, stay, lovers of
freedom and anxious for the.
Speaker 2: Frame earn the Fabos Seriason.
Speaker 4: The