Next week most of the country will sit down with extended family for annual Thanksgiving dinner and other traditions. It’s a great opportunity to share stories, life updates, and often can lead to robust family debates and discussions.

With that in mind, I’d like to share three points about animal rights groups that are perfect for sharing with friends and family.

Most people confuse national animal rights groups–PETA, ASPCA, and Humane Society of the United States specifically–with credible animal welfare organizations. They hear the names of these groups and see the ads full of dogs and cats and think well of them. You may even have an aunt or niece who donates to one of these groups.

These organizations rely on undeserved credibility to raise over $600 million of dollars a year from the animal-loving public. Much of this money is plowed into campaigns to attack and eventually eliminate animal agriculture.

There’s a way to break the cycle: Informing people about what’s really going on.

Word of mouth is considered one of the best tools for marketing. Why? Because people trust their friends and family.

So here are a few things you can share about animal rights groups to help those who don’t yet know the truth.

1. The ASPCA pays its CEO over $1 million a year.

According to its latest tax return (covering 2022), the ASPCA pays its CEO Matt Bershadker over $1.1 million a year. Eight other executives make over $400,000 a year. In total, 304 employees of the ASPCA make over $100,000 a year. (That’s not a typo.)

The ASPCA is a great example of a factory fundraising operation that spent over $140 million in 2022 on raising more money. The ASPCA is sitting on more than $80 million in cash and savings and another $330 million in investments, including $10 million kept offshore in the Caribbean. The ASPCA is hoarding millions while unaffiliated local shelters are desperate for funds.

2. The Humane Society of the United States doesn’t run any pet shelters.

Most people are startled to learn this because most people assume that a group called “the Humane Society of the United States” would run pet shelters. First, there’s its name. Next, there are its ads which are full of pets.

But despite its name and those ads, HSUS runs zero pet shelters. And it only gives about 1% of the money it raises to local pet shelters, according to its tax return. (For the ASPCA, that figure is 2%.)

Like the ASPCA, HSUS hoards money that could be helping pets. According to the latest figures, HSUS has nearly $50 million in savings and over $300 million in investments.

3. PETA kills animals.

Unlike HSUS, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) does run one animal shelter. And no pet would want to wind up there.

According to official government documents, PETA has killed 50,000 animals at its headquarters since 1998–about 2,000 a year. In 2022, PETA killed 2,092 cats and dogs at its shelter and only adopted out 58 cats and dogs.

Since 1998, PETA’s kill rate is over 80%. One analysis found that the animals PETA killed “represent 11% of all animals euthanized in the entire Commonwealth of Virginia in 2022.” Yikes.

Most people are shocked to learn that PETA kills pets. For the skeptical, there’s even a website with pictures.

Thanksgiving is a great kickoff to the holiday season. It’s followed a few days later by Giving Tuesday, perhaps the biggest charitable giving day of the year. Help make sure your family isn’t misled into supporting animal rights activists seeking to shut down family farms. All three groups share that agenda, but I’ll save those details for my next column.

Serving of facts at the Thanksgiving table

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