Not to be confused with the Humane Society of Ventura County, which does provide and operate an animal shelter, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has no affiliation with any shelter.Despite the omnipresent dogs and cats in its fundraising materials, it's not an organization that runs spay/neuter programs or takes in stray, neglected, and abused pets.And despite the common image of animal protection agencies as cash-strapped organizations dedicated to animal welfare, HSUS has become the wealthiest animal rights organization on earth.

"Our mission is to encourage adoption in your neighborhood and throughout the country," reads an HSUS fundraising appeal."Even though local shelters are trying their best to save lives, they are simply overwhelmed."That last sentence, at least, is true. But don't count on the multi-million-dollar conglomerate HSUS to do anything about it.

HSUS and its affiliates have received embarrassingly low scores from established charity watchdog groups.Worth magazine gave HSUS a "D" rating for spending as much as 53 percent of its expenses on fundraising.And online rating service Give.org noted that the huge HSUS corporate family does not have an active governing board overseeing the overall structure. Charity Navigator gave only one star (out of four) to HSUS's Earth Voice International, and zero to the Humane Society of the United States Wildlife Land Trust.

HSUS employees have complained to the press that their organization wastes its resources on fundraising expenses and high salaries for its chief executives. Robert Baker, an HSUS consultant and former chief investigator, told U.S. News & World Report: "The Humane Society should be worried about protecting animals from cruelty. It's not doing that. The place is all about power and money."

There is an enormous difference between animal "welfare" organizations, which work for the humane treatment of animals, like the local animal shelters, and animal "rights" organizations, which aim to end the use and ownership of animals. The former have been around for centuries; the latter emerged in the 1980s, with the rise of the radical People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The Humane Society of the United States began as an animal welfare organization.Originally called the National Humane Society, it was established in 1954 as a spin-off of the American Humane Association (AHA).The AHA did not oppose sport hunting or the use of shelter animals for biomedical research.

When John Hoyt took over its presidency in 1970, the Humane Society of the United States had 30,000 members and an annual budget of about $500,000.By 1994, HSUS's annual revenue had grown to $22 million.At the end of 2003, the nonprofit HSUS declared assets totaling over $113 million, including almost $16 million in cash and over $80 million invested in securities.Currently it pays over $11.8 million in annual salaries, and another $3 million in employee benefits and pension contributions.When HSUS merged with the Fund For Animals in 2004, the group announced that its 2005 operating budget would be $95 million. (source: Activist cash.com)

So what does HSUS do with the millions it raises using the furry faces of Fido and Fluffy? In 1980, HSUS officially began to change its focus from animal welfare to animal rights.HSUS wants to end lifesaving biomedical research on animals.The group's mailings demanded that the U.S. government "eliminate altogether the use of animals as research subjects."

HSUS is not particularly friendly toward the use of animals as food, either.HSUS has taken aim at the traditional morning meal of bacon and eggs with a tasteless "Breakfast of Cruelty" campaign.Its newspaper op-eds demand that consumers "help make this a more humane world [by] reducing our consumption of meat and egg products. "In 2005 HSUS introduced "a guide to vegetarian eating" and emphasized "reducing meat consumption" as one of HSUS's goals.

Money sent to the national organization will fund the offices large overhead and salaries, support lobbying efforts to reduce consumption of animals as food, reduce support for scientific medical analyses, and advertise the plight of animals in general.It will also provide you with mailing labels with cute animals on them.If you really want to help with the reduction of unwanted pets, assist your local shelter where your dollars can make a difference.