HSUS's HSVMA set to topple the AVMA?

"A veterinarian is your pet's second-best friend," says HSUS. But HSUS does not practice what it preaches.

HSUS's website lists 35 people as Executive Staff and Subject Experts. HSUS's National Council consists of 17 people. Veterinarians? None. A search of the boards year by year was just as fruitless. We did find one. Franklin M. Loew, D.V.M. served on the HSUS Board in 2001 for a short period before he died.

HSUS's 2008 Board of Directors is 24 souls. One is a vet. A Paula Kislak, D.V.M., the former president of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR). AVAR and HSUS merged in 2008, forming the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association (hsVma). hsVma's staff includes ten vets. hsVma's Leadership Council consists of 16, most of whom are vets. The Council is chaired by Andrew Rowan, Ph.D., who also serves as executive vice president for Operations and CEO of Humane Society International, and as president of HSUS Wildlife Land Trust. In 2008, HSUS compensated Rowan to the tune of $214,213.

HSUS stated in 2008 that 11,000 of US vets are "supporters" of HSUS but perhaps those vets joined simply to watch what HSUS is up to? After all, in 1980, HSUS officially embraced an animal rights policy. After a vote was taken at its national conference, it was formally resolved that HSUS would "pursue on all fronts ... the clear articulation and establishment of the rights of all animals … within the full range of American life and culture." In Animal Rights and Human Obligations, the published proceedings of this conference, HSUS stated unequivocally that "there is no rational basis for maintaining a moral distinction between the treatment of humans and other animals."

Or perhaps HSUS is just overstating the numbers of vets who believe in HSUS's leadership? After all, HSUS says it has 11 million "constituents" but its magazine print run is only 420,000.

A review of AVAR's numbers is revealing. Founded in 1981, AVAR reported "3,500 affiliated veterinarians" in 2008 as it was reformed into HSUS's hsVma. Impressive. An AVAR membership cost $30 for a veterinarian, and $20 for a vet tech. Vet students were free. But in 2007, AVAR reported on its tax return only $22,285 in membership dues and assessments. If we assume that every member was a vet, that's just 742 vets at $30 each, not even close to the 3,500 claimed.

In comparison, the real veterinarian association, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), established in 1863, represents more than 78,000 veterinarians, fully 85% of the 92,000 veterinarians working in the US. In 2007, the AVMA reported $16.2 million in membership dues and assessments.

While HSUS works to impress those unfamiliar with the field of animal husbandry (just about everyone in urban America) that it is full of experts, those charged with the task of caring for animals continue to turn to the real experts we all trust, the vets at the AVMA.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, PMB 506, 826 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118-2698 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 272-2467/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com. See also Teresa's blog and Facebook.

To take a cyber-tour of a fur farm, visit FCUSA's Fur on Film.

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