Tag: Wayne Pacelle

If Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle Cares About Animals, He Should Resign

FEB. 2, 2018 UPDATE: Wayne Pacelle did the right thing — today he announced his resignation as CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.

I’m a longtime supporter of the Humane Society of the United States, which has done an exceptional job in helping to eliminate puppy mills, cracking down on dog-fighting operations and assisting pets affected by natural disasters.

At the same time, I’m not a fan of its CEO, Wayne Pacelle. Why not? Because back in 2007, when more than 50 pit bulls were rescued from Michael Vick’s dog-fighting operation, Pacelle said they could not be rehabilitated and wanted them all to be euthanized.

Fortunately, the wiser and more compassionate officials at animal welfare organizations like Best Friends Animal Society and BAD RAP knew better, took in the dogs, and soon proved Pacelle to be dead wrong. Many of those survivors, known as the “Vicktory Dogs,” became certified therapy dogs, including Jonny Justice, who was awarded the ASPCA — not HSUS — Dog of the Year honor in 2014.

Nearly 11 years later, there’s even more reason to dislike Pacelle, as well as many members of the HSUS board of directors.

Sexual Harassment and a Toxic Work Environment for Women

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that an internal investigation of the HSUS identified three complaints of sexual harassment by Pacelle. Senior female leaders warned Pacelle that his history of sexual relations with subordinates, as well as with donors and volunteers, could hurt the nonprofit. When they complained about Pacelle’s behavior, it fell on deaf ears.

The HSUS offered settlements to three employees who said they were either demoted or fired after reporting the harassment. That settlement money came from donations intended to help animals, not the CEO.

Pacelle claims it’s all a lie. “This is a coordinated attempt to attack me and the organization,” he told the Washington Post. “And I absolutely deny any suggestion that I did anything untoward.”

Some HSUS employees agreed with Pacelle, saying all of those relationships were “consensual.” But others said he created a toxic work environment in which female employees believed they had to have sex with him to further their careers.

Seven HSUS Board Members Resign in Protest

Today the majority of the 32-member HSUS board voted to let Pacelle keep his job. Seven board members immediately did the right thing and resigned in protest. News of the board’s decision is already resulting in the loss of essential contributions from major donors, the Washington Post reports.

“I think Wayne Pacelle should do the right thing and resign,” Rachel Perman, director of charitable giving at Tofurky, told the Post. “I absolutely will not donate to HSUS if Wayne Pacelle is employed.” In November, Perman sent an email to all HSUS board members, urging them to investigate Pacelle after several employees told her they’d been mistreated by him. She only heard back from one board member, interior designer Erika Brunson, who asked Perman if she was out of her mind.

I believe all those women. By not ousting Pacelle, Brunson and the other board members are basically indicating it’s acceptable for the CEO to use his power to screw people — and with the loss of donations, they’re screwing animals as well. Pacelle and those board members should be ashamed of themselves.

Photo: Slowking4

Planned Parenthood Gunman Previously Shot Neighbor’s Dog

Before he murdered police officer Garrett Swasey, mother of two Jennifer Markovsky and Iraq war veteran Ke’Arre Stewart at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs Friday, Robert Lewis Dear had a long criminal record.

Among those crimes was a charge of animal cruelty, according to police reports provided to the Daily Beast by the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina.

In November 2002, as a dog belonging to Dear’s neighbor, Douglas Moore, walked down the driveway, “a shot was fired from [a] residence next to his and Douglas’s dog yelped out and ran over to him.”

The dog, who had been shot with a pellet gun, survived.

Dear insisted he didn’t shoot his neighbor’s dog — yet he told the two deputies who responded to Moore’s call, “Douglas was lucky that it was only a pellet that hit the dog and not a bigger round.”

He was found not guilty of animal cruelty.

“These aspects of his personal profile come as no surprise to those of us who are familiar with the established link between violence against humans and cruelty to animals,” wrote Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), on his blog yesterday. (Serial killers Robert Durst, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy all started out by torturing animals.)

“In fact, the investigation and prosecution of crimes against animals is often an important tool for identifying people who may become perpetrators of violent crimes against people,” Pacelle wrote. “When we work with law enforcement on animal fighting crimes, we see plenty of evidence of criminality and interpersonal violence committed by these thugs.”

Next month, Tennessee will become the first U.S. state to have an animal abuse registry. It will contain the names, current photographs and other identifying data of adults who have been convicted of felonies including aggravated animal cruelty, felony animal fighting, bestiality and other offenses.

The registry will make it easier for animal shelters and rescue organizations to identify people who should never have pets. And since animal abusers often move on to violence against people, it could prove helpful to law enforcement.

In September 2014, for the first time ever, the FBI started keeping track of animal cruelty crimes in its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Although this was too late for Dear’s victims, hopefully it will help save the lives of others, whether they have two legs or four.

Photos via Twitter; Twitter; Twitter

For the Second Time, Kohl’s Is Caught Selling Raccoon Dog Fur as ‘Faux’

UPDATE: Late yesterday, Kohl’s released a statement apologizing for selling the parka. “Kohl’s standard vendor terms require that all merchandise must be free of any real animal fur unless expressly authorized in writing by Kohl’s,” the company said. “No such authorization was given here. Once aware that the product was made with real fur, Kohl’s immediately removed the product from our website.” The stores will accept returns of the parkas “no questions asked,” but the statement didn’t mention if the purchase price would be fully refunded.

Twice within a year, the Kohl’s department store chain has been caught selling items with “faux” fur trimming that is actually made from raccoon dogs.

In 2013, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) busted Kohl’s for selling handbags whose trim was not “faux rabbit fur,” as the store advertised, but real raccoon dog fur.

“When our supporters called the company to urge a fur-free policy, Kohl’s chose instead to play games by changing its customer relations phone number and taking down its customer service web page, making it nearly impossible for people to voice their opinion,” wrote HSUS President Wayne Pacelle on his blog today.

In June of this year, the HSUS tested a men’s parka sold by Kohl’s. The “faux” fur on the collar turned out to be from raccoon dogs.

By selling real fur as “faux,” Kohl’s is breaking two federal laws. In online advertisements for fur products, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Fur Products Labeling Act requires retailers to provide the type of animal killed and the country in which it was killed. Another law, the FTC Act, prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” in commerce.

Kohl’s has not commented on this most recent discovery, but it is no longer selling the parka.

Unfortunately, Kohl’s is not the only retailer guilty of selling real fur as fake — and the FTC isn’t helping matters any.

“Last year, the FTC, the U.S. government agency charged with protecting consumers from deception, decided it would continue to use a bogus fur trade name — Asiatic raccoon — for raccoon dogs, a step that exacerbated consumer confusion and deception in the marketplace,” Pacelle wrote.

To make these fur products, millions of raccoon dogs, a member of the dog family, are raised in inhumane conditions in China and then skinned alive. It costs less to sell their pelts than to manufacture fake fur.

If you want to make sure a “faux” fur item is really fake, the HSUS recommends you do the following:

  • Check the base of the fur for skin or fabric. If you see threadwork from which the hairs emerge, it’s probably fake.
  • Check the tips of the fur for tapering. Fake fur generally doesn’t come to a a fine point, as the real deal does.
  • If you already own the item, remove a few of the hairs and burn them. Real fur smells like human hair when it’s burned.

Here’s a list of retailers, designers and brands that don’t use real fur. To urge Kohl’s to adopt a fur-free policy, call the company at 855-564-5705 and sign this HSUS online petition.

Photo via The Humane Society of the United States

Finally! Animal Abuse Crimes Will Be Tracked by the FBI

Until now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) didn’t track animal cruelty crimes on statewide or national levels. Extreme cases of animal abuse and neglect were placed in an “Other Offense” category.

But that is finally changing. FBI Director James Comer has approved including these cases in the Uniform Crime Report, thanks to the years-long efforts of the National Sheriffs’ Association, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Doris Day Animal League.

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, created in 1929, is “the starting place for law enforcement executives, students of criminal justice, researchers, members of the media and the public at large seeking information on crime in the nation,” according to the FBI website.

As the FBI has previously done for offenses including hate crimes and the killings of law enforcement officers, it will now also collect critical information on animal cruelty crimes. This means there’s now “a real incentive for law enforcement agencies to pay closer attention to such incidents,” wrote HSUS President Wayne Pacelle on his blog today. “With accurate data, law enforcement agencies will also be better able to allocate officers and financial resources to handle these cases, track trends and deploy accordingly.”

Animal cruelty crimes to be tracked by the FBI include intentional abuse and torture, organized abuse, sexual abuse and simple/gross neglect. The FBI defines animal cruelty as “Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly taking an action that mistreats or kills any animal without just cause, such as torturing, tormenting, mutiliation, maiming, poisoning or abandonment.”

The tracking of these crimes “is a practical way of cracking down on cruelty,” Pacelle wrote.

“The decision is also significant in affirming, at the highest levels of our government, that animal cruelty is a vice just like so many other violent crimes. It is the latest tangible gain in our effort to make opposition to animal cruelty a universal value in our society.”

Photo credit: angela n.

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