Humane Society of U.S. refuses to disclose salaries; ANIMAL PEOPLE BARRED FROM ANIMAL CARE EXPO
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:
WASHINGTON D.C.––The salaries of the chief executives of the
Humane Society of the U.S. and Humane Society International were omitted
from the copy of IRS Form 990 that HSUS/HSI filed with the New York State
Charities Bureau in April 1992.
Known for providing prompt media access to tax records on nonprof-
its, the N.Y. Charities Bureau confirmed November 16 that the missing records,
Schedule 3 on the 1991 form, had apparently never been filed––although
required by law. Other information essential to determining the true balance of
program and fundraising expenditures was also missing. ANIMAL PEOPLE
then requested Schedule 3 directly from HSUS/HSI. November 17, HSI exec-
utive secretary Janet D. Frake advised ANIMAL PEOPLE to seek the missing
information through the Freedom of Information Act. ANIMAL PEOPLE has;
the information will be published when located by the IRS, which began a data
search for it on November 18.
Also on November 18, ANIMAL PEOPLE was advised that HSUS
was cancelling a previous arrangement under which we were to publish advertis-
ing for the HSUS-sponsored Animal Care Expo, coming up in early March, in
exchange for exhibit space (alongside a number of other publications that also
serve humane societies, animal care and rescue organizations, animal control
departments, veterinarians, and pet guardians). Further, ANIMAL PEOPLE
was barred from purchasing exhibit space, even at the regular price.
“I was told we were to have nothing to do with you people,” Animal
Care Expo coordinator John Dommers told ANIMAL PEOPLE by telephone.
Officially, ANIMAL PEOPLE was barred “because this is a trade exhibit
specifically for people who provide products and services to animal control
departments and humane societies.” Aware, however, that ANIMAL PEO-
PLE reaches virtually every humane society and most municipal shelters in the
U.S., Dommers acknowledged when pressed that, “It was probably political.”
HSI president John Hoyt, who headed HSUS until HSI was formed in
late 1991, is known to be sensitive about his salary, which has long been
among the highest paid by any humane organization. In 1988, syndicated
columnists Jack Anderson, Dale Van Atta, and Joseph Spear revealed that
Hoyt and then HSUS vice president/treasurer Paul Irwin (now HSUS president)
had received significant compensation in addition to their salaries, including
payments from two HSUS affiliates, the National Association for the
Advancement of Humane Education and the National Humane Education
Center. Further, in May 1987, HSUS purchased Hoyt’s home for $310,000,
allowed him to live there rent-free, and declared the value of the free rent at
$600 a month, well under the actual value of $2,500 to $3,000 stated by an
internal audit. In October 1987, HSUS loaned Irwin $85,000 toward the cost of
leasing 11 acres of oceanfront and restoring a cabin at Thittsburg, Maine.
When ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton asked Hoyt for com-
ment on the Anderson/Van Atta/Spear exposes, HSUS cancelled a subsidy to
The Animals’ Agenda, Clifton’s employer at the time, and cancelled publication
of a 300-page study of the economic aspects of the fur trade, which Clifton had
authored under contract to HSUS. The study has nonetheless been the basic
source document behind the antifur campaigns of numerous organizations.
HSUS later discontinued advertising in The Animals’ Agenda, and
according to some HSUS staffers, barred employees from writing for i t.
Articles by HSUS staffers resumed appearing there after Clifton departed.
