Is the Humane Society Really Helping Your Local Shelter?

Many do not know that your local humane society and the Humane Society of the United States are not working towards the same goal. Your local humane society is all about an animal's welfare, medical care, shelter and food while the Humane Society of the United States is only interested in animal rights. Many may be thinking that animal welfare and animal rights are one in the same, but they are not and it is confusing to those people who are not into politics.

Your local humane society is concerned with animal welfare or the humane treatment of animals. There are many animal welfare organizations that are working to create balance between owning and using animals. The Humane Society of the United States is all about animal rights, they claim animals have legal rights and they have the right to not be owned. The HSUS would like to see to it that no animal is "owned" and many members believe that animals should be set free to make their own way in the world with no outside interference.

There is some confusion about what the animal organizations in the United States actually do or are about. Hopefully this will help clear up some of the confusion; The Humane Society of the United States does not operate one animal shelter in the United States. The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the ASPCA does indeed operate a shelter, just one. Their one shelter and hospital are both in New York City. The American Humane Society or AHA, operate no shelters themselves, they are however affiliated with 300 animal shelters that agree to uphold the AHA standards. There is no actual organization called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The term SPCA is used as a generic term nationwide that refers to animal shelters.

Many people donate to HSUS and ASPCA thinking that their local shelter will benefit when in actuality the local shelter will not receive one penny of your donation. Your local animal shelter may be called a humane society, or even the SPCA, but these are titles only and are not affiliated with any other organization. If you are still unsure got to all the organizations websites and do a bit of digging and see what you find out on each before you make that donation.

All these organizations are intended to help animals and they both do to some extent but if you want to help fund the shelter, food and medical care for animals your best bet is to give the donation directly to your local shelter, and do not forget to volunteer!