Category Archives: Harassment

Berman and Company Blunders Again

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Berman and Company announces its successful campaign to flush money down the drain

Berman and Company announces its successful campaign to flush client funds down the drain

Today, HumaneWatch triumphantly announced the success of its extremely expensive campaign to harass Discover into dropping its affinity program. The affinity program donates funds to HSUS and other nonprofits when cardholders use it to make purchases.

What HumaneWatch didn’t disclose was that the affinity program ended five weeks before the announcement, the planned conclusion of a program that successfully donated more than $1 million to HSUS animal welfare programs.

Thirteen other affinity programs ended at the same time, but strangely, Berman has declined to take credit for the closure of those programs.

In the wake of numerous public failures, Berman and Company is struggling to prove its worth to the deep-pocketed Big Energy donors they’ve been wooing. That’s not an easy task, as Berman’s disastrous blunders have earned his public relations firm decidedly negative publicity. And with up to 93% of “nonprofit donations” to Berman’s front groups quietly disappearing into Richard Berman’s for-profit coffers, persuading corporations to line his pockets in exchange for dubious results is a stiff challenge.

Berman’s Discover debacle illustrates the way his campaigns deceive corporate donors as much as the public. His front groups offer no accountability. No proof of results. Just vague claims of “changing the debate” and “victories” that had nothing whatsoever to do with his company’s actions.

The campaign to harass Discover squandered funds on obscenely expensive billboard ads in Times Square, multiple websites, promotional videos, and more… all to attack a program that — apparently unknown to Berman — successfully concluded in March.

If Berman’s corporate donors have any financial savvy, they’ll demand a refund.

Stop HumaneWatcher responds to ag industry hatchet piece

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Kevin Fulton runs a 2,800-acre grassfed cattle ranch in Litchfield, Neb., where he chairs the first HSUS Agriculture Council. Photo credit: All Animals / HSUS

Kevin Fulton runs a 2,800-acre grassfed cattle ranch in Litchfield, Neb., where he chairs the first HSUS Agriculture Council.
Photo credit: All Animals / HSUS

Recently an agriculture industry trade journal called Beef Producer, which supplies content to 18 state publications for Farm Progress agriculture information service, ran an opinion piece that drew all its talking points from one source: Rick Berman. Under the headline “HSUS Shows Continued Pattern Of Dishonest Behavior,” editor Alan Newport quoted misinformation from HumaneWatch and compared the Humane Society of the United States to thieves and rapists.

We aren’t going to repeat this travesty of journalism here, but we will repost the response from Stop HumaneWatcher Kevin Fulton, who knows Newport personally and rightly took him to task for the hatchet job he published without bothering to talk to anyone at HSUS or even check their website. Fulton runs a 2800-acre grassfed cattle ranch in Litchfield, Neb., where he chairs the first HSUS Agriculture Council.

Alan,

I must say I was disappointed in your December 13th piece attacking HSUS. It’s one thing to oppose something and substantiate it with facts but when you perpetuate lies to make your position, it suggests that you yourself are untrustworthy based on your very own reasoning! Your rant shows a true lack of integrity and professionalism. Analogies using liars, thieves, and rapists and implying that animal advocates somehow belong in the same category is a delusional thought. It would behoove you to understand that the HSUS is not a group of bureaucrats sitting in an office somewhere but rather millions of supporters at the grassroots level, including farmers like myself. You have unfairly attacked all of us with your absurd implications and we take great offense to that.

You’ve been to my home and toured my farm, and you know that I am a real farmer. I’ve heard all the anti-ag and other rhetoric about HSUS for years, and I’ve thoroughly done my research and investigated the sources. I’ve been to HSUS headquarters and traveled with their leadership on numerous occasions. Do you think I would align with an organization that is against animal agriculture since my sole livelihood depends on that? Ninety five percent of their membership eats animal products! Most of their members and staff own animals yet you claim they are opposed to animal agriculture and animal ownership. How do you possibly reach such idiotic conclusions?

Like you, Wayne Pacelle has also been to my home and toured my farm. I’ve worked with him on numerous projects. My experiences with HSUS leadership are first hand. I was always taught to think for myself instead of blindly following the status quo. Your info comes right from the talking points of Rick Berman, who is a highly discredited lobbying and public relations hack in Washington, D.C. He’s no farmer, and the only connect he has to farming is that he takes money from certain farming interests to try to discredit HSUS. And they are naive enough to fund his smear campaigns instead of standing up and taking ownership in their own problems and addressing the issues. HSUS has a number of farmers working on their staff in leadership positions. Ask Rick Berman how many farmers his bogus organization has on staff.

HSUS makes it plain that it is about protecting all animals, and that it has never served, and never claimed to serve as a pass-through organization for animal shelters. HSUS does do a lot for shelters, but it’s always been more than that. Any 5th grader could find their website and substantiate this.

I’ve been an HSUS member for a number of years now. I get their publications and have seen livestock farmers profiled in their magazine, annual reports, daily blogs, on their website and in brochures and other promotional material. In fact we are promoting several ag related events right here in Nebraska in just the month of February alone where farmers and their products will be showcased. We have Agricultural Councils in six states now with others waiting to be announced in the near future. This is an idea that I brought to the organization in 2010 and they embraced my suggestion. I now proudly serve as chairperson of the first Ag Council which was formed here in Nebraska. These councils are made up of prominent farmers and leaders in the sustainable ag community that you are likely familiar with. Have you bothered to reach out to any of these farmers like any competent journalist would?

You did to HSUS supporters what the most zealous animal advocates do to farmers like me – you misrepresented the situation, either because you’ll say anything to denigrate them, or because you just didn’t take the time to research it yourself. I hope it was the latter case, and I hope you’ll be more rigorous about this in the future. You’ve always struck me as a serious advocate for sustainable agriculture but maybe I have mis-judged you. I’m not fearful of anyone who advocates that animals should be allowed to move and not be imprisoned in a tiny crate. This is basic animal husbandry. Extreme confinement systems represent a fanatical mindset and most farmers like myself do not want to be associated with these operations at all.

Lastly, I will invite you to the upcoming Nebraska Sustainable Ag Conference here in Nebraska on February 13-14th where Wayne Pacelle will be giving the keynote presentation and talking about the importance of farmers and animals in our sustainable farming systems. http://www.nebsusag.org/conference.shtml It will also serve as a gathering for HSUS Ag Council members from various states to kickoff this event. Of course you would have to be open to the truth to benefit from this invitation. That would likely challenge you and push you out of your comfort zone. But any reputable journalist would welcome the opportunity to get the truth.

Sincerely,

Kevin Fulton
Fulton Farms
Litchfield, NE

Stopping Facebook Harassment

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Several members of the Stop HumaneWatch group on Facebook have contacted us about notices they received, warning that their screen shots or other content have been removed for “copyright infringement”. Anti-activist terrorism is a common tactic of HumaneWatch members. When they can’t counter the facts, they resort to lies, harassment, and intimidation to protect their alleged right to abuse animals. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit there and take it. The screenshot above, taken from HumaneWatch, is one example of content that was falsely reported as copyright infringement. The comment on the screenshot pointed out that HumaneWatch has yet to confront any of the animal abusers and admitted animal killers frequenting its pages. That didn’t sit too well with the originator of the comment, who didn’t like her hypocrisy being exposed. She filed a false DMCA copyright infringement complaint through Facebook’s automated system in an attempt to suppress our free speech. That was a crime (perjury) as well as a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service. According to the copy of the complaint forwarded by Facebook, she complained on the grounds that “A copywrited [sic] photograph that belongs to me is being used by an individual and a group without my permission… The photo in my avatar is copywrited [sic] and belongs to me. I did not give this group permission to use a screen shot of my photo.” Here are the facts. HumaneWatchers cannot claim copyright infringement on a comment or a profile picture that they have posted to Facebook, because they expressly gave you permission to repost it. That’s in the Facebook Terms of Service, Section 2.4:
When you publish content or information using the everyone setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).
Got that? If they’ve posted it publicly on Facebook, they have granted you permission to reprint it, to share it anywhere on or off of Facebook, and to associate it with their name and profile picture. So, what do you do if someone has filed a fraudulent copyright complaint against you? Your first clue that something is wrong will probably come from the stern warning on Facebook telling you that your content has been removed, and warning you that if you continue to violate Facebook Terms of Service, you could be exiled from Facebook. They’ll require you to mark the checkbox acknowledging that you’ve read the warning. Being unfairly accused of wrongdoing is infuriating, and a little intimidating. That’s the intent of the harassment. But keep in mind that (a) you’re innocent, (b) it’s an automated system with no ability to make intelligent judgments, and (c) it ultimately means nothing, since you’re about to clear your name and turn the tables on your harasser. The warning will contain a link to Facebook’s DMCA Counter-Notice Form. Click that link. You’ll be asked to provide your contact information, and this may be provided to the person who filed the complaint. The address required is just a point of contact, so feel free to use a PO Box, maildrop, or other intermediary address if you’re not comfortable releasing that information. In the box asking why Facebook was wrong to remove the content, you can copy and paste the following:
The content is not an original work of authorship as defined by 17 U.S.C. Sec. 101 et seq., and is not subject to the DMCA. Furthermore, use of the content was expressly permitted by Facebook Terms of Service Sec. 2.4, which reads: “When you publish content or information using the everyone setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).”
In a day or two, Facebook will contact you by email to confirm that you are filing a counterclaim. You may need to repeat that information in your reply, and you may need to remind Facebook of their own Terms of Service. Be patient, be polite. Once Facebook’s staff has gathered the information they need to determine that the claim was false, they will notify the harasser of your counterclaim, and will restore the content within 14 days. You can also repost the content before that time, since it has been cleared by Facebook and they have agreed to stop blocking it. Any false claims from the harasser may result in the closure of their account, so be sure to ask Facebook’s staff to pursue disciplinary action against the complainant. If this has happened before, include that information in your report. Filing false abuse reports is not just a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service, it’s a crime. Stand up for your rights, and make those HumaneHaters eat their words!

HumaneWatch lies, so shelter pets die

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Six million to eight million animals enter our nation's animal shelters each year.

Gloating by the industry-funded hate group HumaneWatch ran thick this week after the Platte Valley Humane Society in Nebraska turned down a $5,000 grant from the Humane Society of the United States. Although the grant totaled almost half of what the shelter garners through its largest fund-raising event each year, shelter management felt they could not take the money. “We thought that maybe we should just bow out and not accept these funds and maybe we wouldn’t be crossing any feelings of people who are advocates and those in the industry,” board president Steve McClure said. In other words, board members were so intimidated by the misinformation spread by HumaneWatch and the industrial agribusiness interests it represents that they turned down the money rather than risk alienating factory farmers in the area. This is all part of the HumaneWatch strategy: to turn one animal protection charity against another. While these groups are distracted by infighting, the puppy mills and factory farms that the HSUS confronts are free to continue profiting from animal cruelty. HumaneWatch’s attacks haven’t stopped the HSUS, ASPCA, or other national groups from confronting cruelty to animals, but they have hurt local shelters — and animals. $5,000 could spell the difference between life and death for hundreds of shelter pets. A new adoption campaign. A new paint job to welcome adopters. Medical treatment. Personnel. Enrichment. Housing. All these items so key to no-kill goals were lost, solely because of HumaneWatch lies. Add it to the toll of suffering caused by the puppy mills, factory farms, furriers, seal clubbers, horse slaughterers, and other animal cruelty they are paid to defend. HumaneWatch lies, so shelter pets die.

When disaster strikes, the last thing you need is a HumaneWatcher

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It is often said that one’s character comes out during a crisis.  If that is so, then several prominent HumaneWatchers have shown their true colors in the wake of the Joplin tornado.

Last Sunday’s tornado was among the deadliest in U.S. history, with a human death toll of at least 142.  And where human lives are destroyed, surviving animals are displaced.

One agency — the Joplin Humane Society Animal Adoption & Resource Center — has been working nonstop to care for animals displaced by the storms and reunite them with their families.  As of Saturday, they had received 573 animals and reunited 147 with their families.  Besides dogs and cats, some of the animals handled by the shelter include a quaker bird, several chickens, goldfish, and a boa constrictor.

Unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished, and HumaneWatchers are always there to dole out punishment to anyone who actually cares about animals.

As is common in any large-scale rescue or natural disaster, the local animal shelter was unable to handle the huge influx of animals on its own.  So Karen Aquino, director of the Joplin Humane Society, asked the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to help.  The ASPCA set up an emergency shelter, brought in all the necessary supplies, and is running the emergency operation.

The Humane Society of the United States, already stretched thin by its operations in the disaster zones of Mississippi and Alabama, sent personnel to care for the animals at the emergency shelter in Joplin.  The Humane Society of Missouri sent in teams to perform search and rescue operations.  And American Humane Association sent in people to provide relief in the shelter itself so staff could time off to care for their own families hit by the disaster.

You would think that all this would show how local and national animal welfare groups can pull together during a time of disaster to provide much needed care for displaced animals.

But then, you would not be a HumaneWatcher.  In their paranoid, delusional fantasy world, the national organizations are not in Missouri to help the local shelter.  They are there to loot, steal, whisk people’s pets off to far-away places, sell them for a profit for themselves, or give them to out-of-state shelter and rescue groups trying to make a buck off tornado victims.

Who, you ask, could possibly believe such a thing?  Let’s start with the VoteNoOnPropB page, which has become a haven for paranoid puppy milling HumaneWatchers and their sympathizers.

Here, Sabra Steele recounts how rescue groups “looted” dogs in Alabama.  She thinks the National Guard should close state borders to any out-of-state rescue groups, and says next time she will chain her dog crate to one hand and her gun to the other.

HumaneWatchers Larkin Vonalt and Cheri Medlin Cason tell VoteNoOnPropB that the HSUS is only in Missouri to take dogs for shelters in the Northeast to sell for a profit:

HumaneWatcher Angie Jensen Noland says she won’t give a dime to Joplin Humane Society.

And HumaneWatcher Bonnie Thompson Jensen sided with VoteNoOnPropB admin Jessica White Bryand on charges that the HSUS had looted dogs from Mississippi.

In fact, the HSUS was transporting animals that families had surrendered because they had lost everything in the storms and could no longer care for their pets.  Rather than trying to rehome pets in a disaster area, HSUS was moving them to new areas where families looking to adopt animals could be found.  This also freed up space in the disaster area for displaced pets.

But that didn’t stop Bonnie from going on to accuse the Joplin Humane Society — on its own Facebook page — of releasing pets to be taken out of state by rescue groups before people had the chance to claim them.

The Joplin Humane Society’s Facebook page is supposed to be a place for the shelter to post items it needs to have donated, information to volunteers, and photos of lost, found, and reunited pets.  It is not supposed to be a place for people to harass those working so hard to help.

So when HumaneWatch rather unwisely chose the Joplin Humane Society as its “Shelter of the Day” on Friday, it should have come as no surprise that its core members would revolt.

Bonnie Thompson Jensen repeated yet again the unfounded rumors of the humane society releasing animals to out-of-state rescue groups.

Gail Ledbetter bemoaned how the Joplin Humane Society allowed national groups to “take over” the shelter.

And Cheryl Nims, to the incredulity of a shelter manager in Minnesota, denounced the Joplin Humane Society, the HSUS, ASPCA, and rescue groups, all in one post.  She also claimed that local groups were turned away, despite the presence of the Humane Society of Missouri.

So what does a sane person do in the face of such irrational hate-filled diatribes?  They set the record straight, as the director of the Joplin Humane Society did in a series of posts on May 25:

And they hope their friends will step up in support, as we are doing today.

HumaneWatch Info condemns the lies, misinformation, and slander directed at the Joplin Humane Society, ASPCA, HSUS, and other rescue groups from sources such as HumaneWatch and VoteNoOnPropB.

While people like Sabra, Larkin, Cheri, Angie, Bonnie, Jessica, Gail and Cheryl are sitting behind their computers spreading malicious rumors, the local and national welfare groups have people on the ground actively working to help.

We salute these animal heroes, and urge everyone to support their work on behalf of animals affected by natural disasters and the families who love them.

If you’d like to donate, the Joplin Humane Society’s wish list is here – http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wedding/9NXFU5BUZCLK.  Urgent needs include 6-foot-high chain link dog panel fencing and swamp coolers to help cool the emergency shelter building.

If you’d like to volunteer, please use the volunteer sign-up form at http://www.controlledgo.com/AARC_JHS_FAQ.html.  Give your name, phone number(s) and availability. Someone will contact you to confirm your shift(s). Please do not just show up at the shelter.

And you can see some of the wonderful reunions of pets with their families here – http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.569815389308.2066417.107700024