Please
Help Assure Helmsley
Billions
Used To Benefit Dogs
HSUS,
PETA Make Grab For $8 Billion Trust Fund
by
JOHN YATES
American
Sporting Dog Alliance
NEW
YORK, NY – In a two-page “mission statement” attached to her will,
hotelier and real estate magnate Leona Helmsley specified that her
entire estate is to be used for the care and welfare of dogs.
The
estate is estimated at between $5 billion and $8 billion, and could
provide a perpetual annual return of at least $400 million to benefit
dogs.
Not
surprisingly, many organizations are trying to get a piece of this
money.
Two
well-known radical animal rights groups have announced their intentions
to apply for this funding: The Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Both
of these groups espouse an ideology that wholly contradicts Ms.
Helmsley’s intentions and beliefs. HSUS and PETA want to eliminate dogs
from our lives.
The
American Sporting Dog Alliance urges dog owners from every state to
contact the Helmsley Foundation to help assure that Mrs. Helmsley’s
estate is used for its intended purposes. We are asking dog owners to
let the estate trustees know your ideas for how the money should be
spent, suggest groups and organizations that you feel are worthy of
financial assistance and also to caution them about the HSUS and PETA
applications.
Nothing
worse could happen to dogs (and dog owners) than for PETA and HSUS to
grab a large chunk of this money. It would be used to drive dogs and
dog ownership toward extinction.
Please
send “hard copy” letters by U.S. Mail to:
Howard
J. Rubenstein and Trustees
Leona
and Harry B. Helmsley Foundation, Inc.
230
Park Avenue
New
York, NY 10169-0005
Here
is our letter to the Helmsley Foundation, which you may want to use as
a starting point in writing your own letters:
The
American Sporting Dog Alliance truly is thankful for Leona Helmsley’s
decision to leave most of her estate to help dogs. This is a godsend!
As
we understand it, Mrs. Helmsley’s intention was for this money to be
used directly to benefit the care and welfare of dogs. Many excellent
organizations will be seeking funds from this trust to help them to
operate vital programs to benefit dogs. However, other organizations
have agendas that utterly contradict Mrs. Helmsley’s intentions, and we
urge you to use extreme caution in reviewing applications from The
Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals and similar groups.
The
American Sporting Dog Alliance will not be applying for funding from
this trust, as our policy is to maintain strict independence to serve
our members. However, we are offering our assistance to help you sort
through and evaluate applications for funding. We would be happy to
serve as consultants and would volunteer our services at no cost to
you. We share Mrs. Helmsley’s love of dogs and concerns about their
welfare, and we care deeply that her incredible gift will be used for
its intended purpose. Our mission is to work for the welfare of dogs
and to protect the rights and traditions of dog owners. We consider the
relationship between dogs and people to be one of the most beautiful
parts of life.
The
potential for the Helmsley fund to do good things is enormous. Quite
literally, it could lay the foundation to solve every problem facing
dogs in America today. This is not an exaggeration.
Here
are some worthy possibilities for funding support:
• Many
pets are abandoned or taken to shelters every year because people
cannot handle behavioral problems. This is one of the major causes of
shelter admissions. Funding could provide free or low-cost professional
assistance to dog owners to overcome behavior issues in order to
provide long-term loving homes for many dogs. The vast majority of
behavioral issues are easily corrected, but many people simply don’t
know how to do it.
• Social
factors are the five leading causes of dogs being taken to animal
shelters. These include divorce, home foreclosure, job transfers and
landlord issues. Funding could provide foster care for these dogs until
their owners’ lives have stabilized and they can bring their pets back
home, or until new homes can be found.
• The
cost of veterinary care has skyrocketed, leaving many
low-and-middle-income people unable to afford medical care for their
dogs. This causes many dogs with treatable medical conditions to be
euthanized. A perpetual loan fund could be created to help
low/middle-income people to afford the cost of veterinary care, with
reimbursement according to a person’s ability to repay the loan.
Financially-strapped elderly and disabled people would be exempt from
repayment. Another fund could provide low-cost veterinary insurance for
middle-income people who often have to make difficult choices with
limited resources.
• Too
many dogs are euthanized in animal shelters every year. This is not
because there are too many dogs. The number of homeless dogs actually
has dropped by more then 50% over the past 10 years. The reason for the
continuing high euthanasia rates could be described as a failure of
management to implement “no-kill” strategies, and a failure of
government at all levels to provide adequate funding to operate an
effective shelter program. Funding from the Helmsley Trust could help
animal shelters to implement “no-kill” strategies such as public
outreach, foster care and adoption assistance programs.
• Rescue
groups make heroic efforts to help dogs in need, and thousands of dogs
find new homes every year because of the dedication of rescuers. They
help dogs that have lost their homes due to death, severe illness,
divorce and financial hardship. Some rescue groups are well funded, but
most are not. These groups need the resources to be able to accept dogs
before they enter the shelter system, and then to care for them until
good homes can be found. A toll-free rescue hotline also could be
included in every Yellow Page listing for animal shelters as an
alternative to municipal facilities.
• The
unsung heroes of the dog world are the dedicated people who raise
purebred dogs. Fanciers of various breeds have performed miracles over
the years by providing dogs that are healthier, have fewer genetic
problems and have better dispositions than at any time in human
history. They have funded genetic research and testing, are the
backbone behind the breed rescue movement, have voluntarily instituted
stringent buyer protection programs, have required spaying and
neutering of all purebreds that are not exemplary specimens of their
breed, and stand behind every puppy they raise from birth until death.
Purebred dogs from conscientious fanciers have predictable
characteristics, come from known backgrounds and have received truly
superb care. Funding for genetic research and testing, and breed rescue
groups, is vital to make sure that high quality puppies are available
that will spend their lifetimes as valued members of loving families.
• The
pet store trade has spawned a proliferation of large commercial
breeding kennels to meet the consumer demand for puppies. Although most
of these large kennels provide an acceptable level of physical care,
they cannot provide an ideal environment because of their sheer size.
Some of these kennels could be described as “puppy mills,” because
their dogs receive poor care and are exploited for profit. Laws and
governmental regulation have proven to be ineffective tools because of
the high consumer demand for pet store puppies, and because of
unwarranted and burdensome intrusions into the lives of all dog owners
that result from complex laws. A better solution would be to provide
financial incentives for pet stores to stop selling puppies: in
essence, buying out their right to sell puppies. Instead of selling
puppies directly at a retail level, they could provide referrals to
reputable certified breeders of quality puppies, or for rescue groups,
and receive a commission in return. Funding could help to create a
breeder certification program that meets the highest standards. In
addition, funding could be provided to help rescue groups buy out large
commercial kennels, with contractual guarantees that would prohibit a
kennel from reopening.
• As
we stated earlier, there is no over-population problem with dogs in
most of America. The entire northern tier of states and the West Coast
actually have a severe shortage of adoptable dogs, and thousands of
dogs are imported every year to meet the demand. The states that do
have a problem with having too many dogs are generally in the southern
part of the country. Thus, the real problem from a national perspective
is one of distribution. Funding could assist northern and West Coast
rescue groups with their humane relocation efforts to import dogs from
the few states that do have a shelter population problem.
• It
is rare today to find puppies in an animal shelter or rescue program
because of the overwhelming success of voluntary spay and neuter
programs in most parts of the country, increased public awareness and
stringent leash laws that target people who let their dogs roam. An
estimated 60-percent of dogs today already have been spayed or
neutered. When problems exist, they tend to be in places with
struggling economies and many low-income residents. Funding to provide
free pet sterilization for low-income people everywhere in America
would go a long way to solving this problem.
The
American Sporting Dog Alliance would be happy to assist you in funding
decisions to implement any or all of these goals, or to develop other
goals to benefit the welfare of dogs. We also have dedicated officers
and members in every state who would be happy to offer their assistance.
We
are aware that two well-known national organizations will be seeking
funding from the Helmsley Foundation, but would strongly caution you
against supporting them. They are the Humane Society of the United
States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Both of these organizations support an agenda that wholly contradicts
Mrs. Helmsley’s beliefs and intentions.
The
ultimate goal of both HSUS and PETA is the total extinction of all
domestic animals, including dogs. They consider all relationships
between people and dogs to be a form of exploitation – even beloved
household companions that are members of loving families. While HSUS
rhetoric sounds more moderate than PETA on the surface, the goal of the
two organizations is the same. They want to reduce the number of dogs
and the number of people who own dogs as quickly as possible, while
working for changes in societal norms that make dog ownership
unappealing to people. Their goal is a future without dogs. Mrs.
Helmsley would be appalled by their agenda.
Both
organizations have strongly opposed “no-kill” animal shelters, and
favor programs that result in the impoundment and euthanasia of as many
dogs as possible. For example, HSUS consistently supports animal
cruelty laws that are targeted against private “no-kill” shelters. HSUS
and PETA also consistently favor legislation that does everything
possible to discourage dog ownership, imposes heavy fines and
liabilities for dog ownership, and mandates the involuntary
sterilization of all dogs.
As
HSUS President Wayne Pacelle said of his goal: “One generation and out.
We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals.” Goodbye,
dogs. His plan is to accomplish this by laws that mandate pet
sterilization, and make it almost impossible for someone to raise a
litter of puppies.
In
spite of its name, the Humane Society of the United States has no
relationship to local humane societies. It does not operate a single
shelter. It does not help a single dog. It provides very little funding
to help shelters. In 2006, for example, HSUS (with a net worth of $113
million) gave only 4.2% of its $85 million operating budget to animal
shelters. The vast majority of HSUS expenditures are for fund-raising.
What’s left goes to political lobbying.
HSUS
also has a horrible track record of misusing the funds it raises to
benefit animals. A study of HSUS fund-raising in California, for
example, concluded that only 11.3% of the money collected was left over
after fund-raising expenses were deducted. With PETA, only 28% of the
money was available after fund-raising costs were deducted. The
national average is 46%.
There
also have been some scandals involving HSUS funding. For example, the
organization raised a lot of money to help the dogs rescued from
Michael Vicks’ dog fighting operation. Insiders say that not one penny
actually was used to help those dogs. It all went to HSUS publicity.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office reportedly asked HSUS to cease this
campaign, because damage was being done to the prosecution’s case
against Vicks. Problems also were reported in the HSUS involvement with
the effort to rescue dogs following Hurricane Katrina.
In
New York, HSUS employed a company called Share Group to raise funds. In
2000, Share Group gave HSUS only $16,543 of the $1.08 million it raised
in New York (a return of only 1.53%). In 2004, Share Group raised over
$1 million in HSUS’s name, but lost money. HSUS wound up paying about
$173,000 to Share Group.
Unfortunately,
PETA does operate an animal shelter, although calling it that is an
aberration. It recent years, PETA has killed between 91-percent and
97-percent of the animals it has received at its Norfolk, VA, shelter.
In 1996, PETA took in 1,030 dogs and killed 988 of them, while finding
homes for only eight. That year, PETA hauled in $30 million in
revenues. None of this money went to help dogs. Not one penny was used
to save the life of a dog, or to give it a better life.
PETA’s
actual kill statistics might be much worse, as apparently many dogs
picked up by shelter employees never make it out of the truck alive. A
pair of PETA employees were charged with 31 counts of animal cruelty
after they were observed throwing dead dogs in garbage bags into a
dumpster behind a grocery store only a couple of hours after they were
“rescued” from a nearby animal shelter. North Carolina and Virginia
authorities report that hundreds of other dead dogs wrapped in garbage
bags have been found in local dumpsters and strewn along riverbanks.
Ingrid
Newkirk, PETA’s president, appears to take convoluted personal pleasure
in killing dogs. She has written that she has personally killed
thousands of dogs, and that she starts every work day in the euthanasia
room.
In
an interview with Harper’s Magazine, she said: “Pet ownership is an
absolutely abysmal situation brought about by human manipulation.”
She
calls for the “total liberation” of all dogs, which means their
extinction.
In
closing, we again wish to express our deep gratitude to Mrs. Helmsley’s
estate for its wonderful generosity toward dogs. We strongly support
the estate trustees in their commitment to honor her wishes, and offer
our assistance in any way that we are needed.
The
American Sporting Dog Alliance also needs your help so that we can
continue to work to protect the rights of dog owners. Your membership,
participation and support are truly essential to the success of our
mission. We are funded solely by the donations of our members, and
maintain strict independence.
PLEASE
CROSS-POST AND FORWARD THIS REPORT
Have
You Joined Yet?
The
American Sporting Dog Alliance