HSUS takes over Genesis Awards

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

HOLLYWOOD–Seeking since 1954 to challenge the pre-eminence
of the American Humane Association in monitoring the U.S. film
industry under union contracts which date to 1939, the Humane
Society of the U.S. on August 27, 2002 gained a prominent and
influential Hollywood presence by absorbing the financially
struggling Ark Trust, coordinators of the 17-year-old Genesis Awards
program to honor animal advocacy in the mass media.
The Ark Trust, whose losses since 1995 significantly
exceeded remaining assets, will now be known as the HSUS Hollywood
office. The Genesis Awards will continue to be produced and directed
by actress Gretchen Wyler, who began the program in 1985 as a
project of the Fund for Animals, and then took it independent in
1990.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Wyler told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
“This will give the Genesis Awards the operating funds they
need, and allow Gretchen to focus on encouraging media attention to
animal issues,” said former Ark Trust executive director Vernon
Weir, now executive director of the American Sanctuary Association.