Note to the Press: Do Your Due Diligence

Forgive me for being a stater-of-the-obvious, but shame on the animal-rights-coddling media.

This morning, I spent a considerable amount of time on the phone speaking with reporters from different regions of the U.S. to debunk the lies and propaganda that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has released (yet again)  about licensed dog breeders nationwide.

With each reporter interview, I found myself having to explain basic facts about HSUS' agenda and their assault on pet breeders, animal agriculture, and animal ownership across the nation.

One begins to wonder if these reporters are deliberately in step with the animal rightists' beliefs to the point that they are unwilling to acknowledge HSUS' insidious strategy to use lies and propaganda to pressure legitimate animal enterprise out of business.  I mean, you would have to be living under a rock to have never heard about any of the attacks that HSUS and other animal rights groups have made against the pet industry, horse industry, hunting, and animal agriculture, right?

In talking with one reporter from St. Louis, Missouri's KMOV Channel 4 this morning, I asked him how long he had been working as a reporter in Missouri.

He replied, "Several years."

I asked, "Were you working as a reporter in Missouri in 2010 during the campaign to defeat Proposition B -- also known as HSUS' Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act?"

The reporter replied, "Well... I was here working as a reporter in St. Louis, but I was covering things like drive by shootings, and fires."

One of the biggest election-year regulatory battles the state of Missouri has ever faced and this guy is telling me that he wasn't aware of it.  

Sorry, I don't buy it.

So, here was my response to Mr. KMOV Channel 4 reporter, and here is my rant to all the other reporters and journalists out there:

HSUS is not a credible source.  What they stated in their recent article about dog breeders is not factual and is not freedom of speech. This is slander. Repeating lies is the same as slander.  And by repeating the lies of HSUS, you are harming families and their businesses by not obtaining the facts.  

KMOV- St. Louis reporter then asked me for proof that HSUS is anti-animal agriculture and promotes veganism. 

In their own words, here are quotes from the leadership at HSUS which I shared with all reporters I spoke with today, courtesy of Humane Watch:

Fact: HSUS’s Food Policy Director Matt Prescott, a former PETA activist, created a national campaigncomparing farms to Nazi concentration camps. (See picture at right.) He has also written, “There’s never an excuse to kill and eat an animal.”

Fact: HSUS’s past farm-animal vice president Miyun Park told an animal rights conference, “We don’t want any of these animals to be raised and killed [for food]….And so because of that, a number of organizations including the Humane Society of the United States, we work on promoting veganism.”

Fact: HSUS’s current farm-animal vice president Paul Shapiro has said, “Eating meat causes animal cruelty” and “The meat industry equals systematic murder.”

Fact: After Wayne Pacelle, a strict vegan, became president of HSUS, he declared a new food policy making all HSUS events vegan—no meat or dairy or eggs, no matter how they are produced.

Fact: Wayne Pacelle has written that eating meat is “speciesist”—meaning animals are discriminated against, similar to racism or sexism.

Fact: HSUS has been secretly investing money in start-ups such as “Beyond Meat” and “Beyond Eggs”—businesses that hope to replace meat and egg products entirely.

Fact: Wayne Pacelle has said that PETA has “visionary and professional leadership. There’s no doubt they’re creative and courageous.” He also said, “PETA has really done so much in a short time to…promote animal rights.”

Fact: John “J.P.” Goodwin, an HSUS director of animal cruelty, has said, “My goal is the abolition of all animal agriculture.” Goodwin is a former spokesperson for the terrorist Animal Liberation Front.

The bottom line: HSUS is run by strict vegans who are only using smaller, organic farmers as a prop. These vegans are smart enough to know that 99% of the public eats animal products. So they provide lip service to small farmers for political and public-relations reasons to cloak their agenda.

My final note to reporters and so-called journalists in America:  HSUS doesn't care about people. And their mission has nothing to do with improving animal welfare. Maybe you should spend your time and efforts following the HSUS money trail. 

HSUS and their cohorts are determined to perpetuate propaganda and lies to smear legitimate animal-related businesses with the intent to bring an end to animal breeding, animal enterprise and, ultimately, animal ownership. 

Unless you check your facts, YOU and your news organizations are willing accomplices to the agenda of HSUS and their intent to harm. 

Rant over. 

Mindy Patterson, president, The Cavalry Group