President's note

You probably saw The HSUS in the news in recent months because of our lead role in responding to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy (for coverage, turn to p. 6). Our Animal Rescue Team deployed to conduct search and rescue, provide shelter for animals left homeless, and take in the pets of people who lost their homes in Sandy’s aftermath. While the federal and state governments play a major role in dealing with people and infrastructure, they lack capacity and expertise for animal-related response. That’s why it’s so critical that the nation has an organization like The HSUS, which rushes in to help animals when people are rushing out of the impact zone. Such work represents just one component of our direct care activity, and as you read this issue of All Animals, you’ll see we have not only an emergency response capacity for pets, but also one for wildlife. I have known Dave Pauli for two decades and am especially glad to see him in a new role as head of our national wildlife response team. Dave’s a singular force for good when it comes to animals in need, whether it’s moving prairie dogs in danger from development or poisoning, digging gopher tortoises out of burrows before they get buried alive, or darting wild horses with immunocontraceptives. I hope you’ll also read Michael Sharp’s cover story on Pets for Life, our fullscale program to bring animal care services as well as greater awareness of animals and their needs into underserved communities. If we are going to solve pet overpopulation and eliminate the euthanasia of healthy, adoptable animals, it starts with fundamental interventions like these. The HSUS can carry out such extraordinary everyday actions only because of your generosity and goodwill. We are blessed to live in a country where philanthropy is so deeply inscribed within the American character, and encouraged and supported by the government via the charitable deduction provisions of our tax code. Every now and again, we’ll hear of a proposal to limit the tax deductibility of charitable donations, but to us at The HSUS it’s pretty clear that making it tougher for private citizens to give money to charities is a poor idea. At a time when government expenditures are almost certain to shrink, it makes no sense to enact policies that will also shrink the size and reach of charitable organizations. At all levels, if government services are reduced, it’s going to be private charities that will be asked to stretch their finite resources even further and fill those critical gaps. America’s robust charitable sector—a $300 billion enterprise involving more than a million organizations—provides some of the most vital, important, and life-affirming work there is. Constraining charitable giving doesn’t make sense, especially not now. Just look at Sandy. As in so many disaster scenarios, the burden has fallen almost entirely upon The HSUS and other local, state, and national animal protection organizations to rescue animals, to shelter them, to reunite them with their families, and to aid in reconstruction of damaged infrastructure. More than any other force, it is animal protection charities that drive the debate over the humane treatment of animals. It is The HSUS and other groups that are promoting corporate and public policies to help animals. It is the thousands of animal protection organizations—from The HSUS to the smallest local groups—that provide the bulk of the care for homeless and other animals in crisis. If our sector doesn’t have the financial resources to conduct the work of animal protection, animals are sure to suffer, and our society will be diminished. For that reason, it is our hope that elected officials will focus on other ways to generate revenue and to cut spending, rather than eliminating a critical—and fundamental—tax incentive that undergirds our collective efforts to assist and defend animals in need.