Wayne Pacelle
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Wayne Pacelle (born 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest animal organization. Pacelle took office June 1, 2004 after serving for nearly 10 years as the organization's chief lobbyist and spokesperson. Since becoming CEO he has sought to expand the organization’s membership base and its influence on public policy.[1]
Among the victories secured since Pacelle’s appointment are the adoption of “cage-free” egg-purchasing policies by several hundred universities and corporations[2]; the exposure of an international trophy hunting scam[3]; successful congressional votes and litigation to end horse slaughter; and an agreement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin enforcement of federal laws concerning the transportation of farm animals. The HSUS’s campaign to stop the killing of seal pups in Canada secured pledges to boycott Canadian seafood from more than 1,000 restaurants and grocery stores and 300,000 individuals. Two November 2006 ballot initiatives conducted with The HSUS’s support outlawed dove hunting in Michigan and abusive factory farming practices in Arizona.
Several months after passage of the Arizona ballot measure, in January 2007, Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world, announced that it would phase out the use of gestation crates that immobilize pregnant sows through confinement.[4] The same month, Maple Leaf Foods, Canada’s largest pork producer, did the same. So did the Strauss Veal company, whose CEO commented that veal crates were “inhumane and archaic.”[5]
The HSUS has experienced major growth since 2004, mainly as a result of the corporate combinations Pacelle forged with The Fund for Animals (2005) and the Doris Day Animal League (2006). During the first 2 ½ years of Pacelle’s tenure, overall revenues and expenditures grew by more than 50 percent. The HSUS’s annual budget for 2006 was $103 million, and the organization has nearly 10 million members and constituents.[6]
Pacelle, who grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, enjoyed reading natural history as a child and developed an early concern about animals’ mistreatment. He graduated with degrees in history and environmental studies from Yale University, where William Cronon was his adviser. Pacelle’s environmental studies sensitized him to the fact that “a destructive attitude toward animals in the natural world, along with innovations in technology, could produce colossal damage to animals and ecosystems.” His activism, which began at Yale, led to his appointment in 1989, at age 23, as executive director of The Fund for Animals, the organization founded by Cleveland Amory[7].
Since 1994, the year he joined The HSUS, Pacelle has played a role in the passage of more than 15 federal statutes to protect animals – including laws to ban the sale of videos depicting animal cruelty (1999), to protect great apes in their native habitats (2000), to halt interstate transport of fighting animals (2002), to halt commerce in big cats for the pet trade (2003), and to require government agencies to include pets in disaster planning (2006). Pacelle has testified before U.S. House and Senate committees on animal protection issues including "canned hunting," funding for the Animal Welfare Act and other programs, the trophy hunting of threatened and endangered species, cockfighting and dogfighting, puppy mills, the exotic pet trade, bear baiting, and Chronic Wasting Disease. In addition, he has been the architect of a number of amendments to end federal subsidies for programs that harm animals, including a halt to funds for the mink industry.
Pacelle has been associated with 26 successful statewide ballot measure initiatives to protect animals, challenging cockfighting, shooting of mourning doves, insupportable hunting practices, the use of steel-jawed traps, and inhumane factory farming methods[8]. He has also been instrumental in the passage of numerous state laws dealing with animal protection.
The HSUS president has also been vocal in criticizing individuals and groups who resort to intimidation, vandalism, or violence in pursuit of animal protection goals.[9]
Pacelle is a cofounder of the Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF), a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization that lobbies for animal welfare legislation and works to elect humane-minded candidates to public office, and Humane USA, a strictly nonpartisan political action committee (PAC) that supports candidates of any political party based on their support for animal protection. The two organizations have helped to defeat hostile anti-animal lawmakers in Congress, including Rep. Chris John of Louisiana (2004), Rep. Richard Pombo of California (2006), and Senator Conrad Burns of Montana (2006).[10]
Pacelle has been the subject of profiles by The New York Times (2007), The Wall Street Journal (2006),The Washington Post (2004), and other major publications. For his management of The HSUS’s response to Hurricane Katrina, NonProfit Times named him “Executive of the Year” (2005)[11].
