Defenders of Animal Rights shelter picketed
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:
PHOENIX, Md. — Weekly protests
outside the Defenders of Animal Rights shel-
ter just north of Baltimore commenced on
August 14, coordinated by the Animal
Welfare League of Greater Baltimore. The
protesters, including former shelter employ-
ees and volunteers, alleged unrecorded
euthanasias, financial abuses, and miscella-
neous other irregularities paralleling some of
those alleged against Primarily Primates one
month earlier, also by former volunteers and
staffers. Several protesters contacted ANI-
MAL PEOPLE, including AWLGB president
Elizabeth Kirk, but none documented any-
thing at DAR that substantially deviates from
common shelter practice., nor did they pro-
vide evidence that anyone at DAR is collect-
ing unusually high remuneration.
ANIMAL PEOPLE has twice
audited the Defenders of Animal Rights tax
filings, discovering that in 1991 the organiza-
tion reported $110,032 apparently spent on
direct mail fundraising as an expenditure for
humane education. Reallocating this amount
produced a breakdown of 59% of revenues
spent on programs, against 41% spent on
overhead—just outside the National Charities
InformationBureau recommendation that at
least 60% be spent on programs. Total com-
pensation to president Mary Joe Kovic and
vice president James Kovic came to roughly
$37,000 apiece, $6,000 above the average
salary of U.S. animal shelter directors, but
$15,000 below the average for U.S. nonprofit
chief executives.
