From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1995:

Victoria Wellens, executive director of the Wisconsin Humane
Society, wrote to ANIMAL PEOPLE to object to our September item, “What’s
Brewing in Milwaukee?”, which summarized a dispute over accountability
between WHS and the Wisconsin Animal Protection Society.
She especially objected to the line, “Wellens, hired at $90,000 a year
in mid-1994 despite having no background in animal work, recently ired both
staff and outside critics by trading in several vehicles used to haul animals and
supplies for a $28,000 Ford Bronco, from which animals are barred.”
“The figure you quoted for my salary is false and grossly inflated,”
Wellens claimed. In fact, though the higher figure has been published by
Milwaukee media, she makes $70,000––close to the national average for comparable
positions. “Further, the Ford Explorer [similar to a Bronco, but bigger] used by law enforcement officers is well-suited to our needs and did not cost
$28,000. Animals are not barred from any WHS vehicle.” The actual sticker
price was $24,602, knocked down to $12,124 with the trade-ins.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Fired on
August 11, according to one Humane Society
of the U.S. senior executive and numerous
staff, HSUS vice president for investigations
and legislation David Wills remains officially
“on administrative leave,” amid an apparent
board-level power struggle.
ANIMAL PEOPLE sources within
HSUS indicate that HSUS president Paul
Irwin and some board members want Wills
out; John Hoyt, president of Humane Society
International and Wills’ longtime patron, purportedly
wants to keep him. HSI is the
umbrella for HSUS and numerous affiliates.
HSUS/HSI board chair O.J. “Joe”
Ramsey is said to be heading a probe of accusations
that Wills misused funds and sexually
harassed subordinates. A corporate attorney
in Sacramento, California, Ramsey has
served on the HSUS board since 1975; his
arrival roughly coincided with that of Irwin.
Ten days after the September edition
of ANIMAL PEOPLE detailed complaints
against Wills by many current and former
HSUS staffers, we received a letter from
Washington D.C. media lawyer Stuart
Pierson, charging we had made “defamatory
and false statements about Mr. Wills” by
“asserting that Mr. Wills was fired.”

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1995:

CLARKS SUMMIT, Pennsylvania–– Dave
Sickles says he moved to northern Pennsylvania, at his own
expense, on the promise of an “executive level position”
starting August 1 with the International Society for Animal
Rights. But when he reported for duty, Sickles says, ISAR
founder and president Helen Jones told him he wouldn’t be
hired, because there was purportedly nothing for him to do.
Yet, Sickles continues, there was plenty for him to
do in the weeks preceding his purported hiring date, when he
fulfilled ISAR assignments as a volunteer. Once in late June,
Sickles avers, he bought a case of white wine on Jones’
instructions at a local liquor store, using an ISAR charge
card. On several occasions, Sickles asserts, he witnessed
Jones having “five glasses of wine for lunch.” As a volunteer,
he says, he shared office space with “sixty or seventy
cats, many of whom were sick and dying.” And Sickles
claims he saw other signs of bizarre behavior by Jones,
including bouts of fear of venturing outside, called agoraphobia,
that were so severe she could scarcely cross the street.

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