Some “Animal Advocates” Never Miss An Opportunity to Exploit Animal Exploitation

Just when I think it can’t get worse, it does.

Humane Society International is an arm of The Humane Society of the United States. Andrew Rowan is the Chief International Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of The HSUS, and President and CEO of Humane Society International.

HSI has a new campaign: rescuing dogs from South Korean farms:

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Here is a story about this campaign:

Alexandria (United States) (AFP) – A dozen dogs originally destined for dinner tables in South Korea arrived in the Washington area to be adopted as pets.

They were the first of a total of 23 dogs being imported into the United States this week as part of a campaign to combat the eating of dog meat in East Asia.

Washington-based Humane Society International (HSI) located the dogs at a farm in Ilsan, northwest of Seoul, where they were being bred specifically for human consumption.

The farmer — who acknowledged a personal fondness for dogs — agreed to give up the animals and accept an offer of compensation and grow blueberries instead, HSI director of companion animals Kelly O’Meara told AFP, as the mongrels settled into kennels Monday at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, Virginia after a long flight from Seoul.

HSI has been working with local groups in China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to raise public awareness of the dog meat trade.

“But South Korea is unusual because it actually farms dogs to supply demand,” O’Meara said, while other countries target feral dogs as food.

Every year, between 1.2 million and two million dogs are consumed in South Korea, she said, supplied by farms that number “at least in the hundreds.”

O’Meara said it was the first time that dogs from South Korea intended for human consumption had been rescued and brought into the United States, where a brisk demand for adopted dogs and cats is met by a thriving network of animal rescue groups and shelters.

All 23 South Korean dogs — the second batch is due to arrive Tuesday — will undergo veterinarian checks in Alexandria, before being distributed among five other shelters in the Mid-Atlantic states for adoption.

“By helping these 23 dogs, we’ll be helping a lot of other dogs in South Korea” by raising public awareness of the dog meat trade, said Megan Webb, executive director of the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, which finds homes for about 1,000 dogs a year.

Okay. So let’s see if I have this right:

HSUS/HSI objects to the eating of dogs. Okay. I understand that. I don’t think anyone should eat dogs either. Surely, it makes no sense to object to eating dogs if you eat other animals.

But HSUS CEO/President Wayne Pacelle sits on the Board of Directors of the Global Animal Partnership, which develops the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating Standards of “happy exploitation” used by Whole Foods and other vendors of “happy meat,” such as the Niman Ranch Pork Company:

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And Joe Maxwell, a Vice President of HSUS, is a pig farmer:

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And HSI has it’s own “happy exploitation” label:

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So the evil Koreans should not eat dogs but good folks elsewhere should feel just fine about consuming other animals and animal products–especially if they have the stamp of approval from HSUS/HSI.

And the reason why HSUS/HSI is flying dogs from Korea to be adopted in the United States is because in the U.S., there is “a brisk demand for adopted dogs and cats [that] is met by a thriving network of animal rescue groups and shelters.”

Really?

But HSUS itself states that 2.7 million healthy animals are killed in shelters every year.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 1.2 million of the 2.7 million animals killed in shelters are dogs.

So HSUS/HSI is objecting to Koreans eating dogs while

HSUS explicitly promotes consuming “happy” animals;

an HSUS Vice President is a pig farmer; and

HSI has its own “happy exploitation” label.

The reason for this is that we need to fly dogs from Seoul to Washington, D.C. so that we have more dogs to adopt in the United States even though we are killing 1.2 million dogs per year.

You can’t make this stuff up.

And 23 dogs who are in languishing in U.S. shelters won’t be adopted so that HSUS can have photo ops and do fundraising.

If you think this has anything to do with anything other than exploiting animal exploitation (as well as promoting xenophobia), you’ve lost sight of what it’s all about.

It makes me sad that my friends at HSUS/HSI most certainly have.

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If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about nonviolence to other sentient beings. But it’s also about nonviolence to the earth and nonviolence to yourself.

The World is Vegan! If you want it.

Gary L. Francione
Board of Governors Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University