It's a rhetorical or "trick" question, since "abuse" depends on the opinion of the person. To many people, especially those involved in the so-called "Animal Rights" movement, ANYTHING that involves human-animal contact is animal abuse. These people consider merely keeping pets or breeding and selling animals as pets to be abuse, akin to keeping human slaves. To many people, allowing animals to breed is abusive, as is the use of animals as food, clothing, etc.
The Humane Society of the United States is a radical Animal Rights organization that is seeking to end ALL animal use by humans, and that includes the practice of keeping and breeding animals as pets. They do NOT operate ANY animal shelters or rescues at all. They do not adopt out homeless animals. They DO, in fact, believe that all domesticated cats and dogs should be spayed or neutered by the young age of four months, so that no more cats or dogs can ever be born, and these animals will eventually become extinct. They use virtually all of the four million dollars per year that they take in through donations to pay staff salaries, buy advertising spots(like the ones on tv with the sad-eyed animals that make you think that HSUS "rescued" them), and hire lobbyists to push for laws that make it harder and harder to anyone to own any type of animal, for any reason. Right now, they are pushing for two Federal bills that will ban large snakes, like pythons and boas, and require that the estimated 38 MILLION pet snakes in the US be taken from their owners and killed...this is what the HSUS is all about, not protecting animals from abuse. HSUS advocates destroying every dog that is seized in raids on "dog-fighting" operations, and indeed, they do just that, even though in many cases the owners are later found innocent of all charges of dog-fighting or animal abuse. It's too late to save those dogs, though; HSUS kills even little newborn puppies, claiming that they are "vicious" and "dangerous". IF you really do love animals, and want to be able to continue to live with them, DO NOT DONATE to the HSUS! You can find out more here:
www.animalscam.com and be sure to check out this:
bluedogstate.blogspot.com and THESE quotes from Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP and now CEO of the HSUS:
"We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. . One generation and out. We have no problem with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding." Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP of Humane Society of the US, formerly of Friends of Animals and Fund for Animals, Animal People, May, 1993
When asked if he envisioned a future without pets, “If I had my personal view, perhaps that might take hold. In fact, I don’t want to see another dog or cat born.” Wayne Pacelle quoted in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 266., or THIS one from John Goodwin, HSUS Field Operations Director, a convicted felony arsonist and member of the domestic terrorist organization, ALF(Animal Liberation Front): "My goal is the abolition of all animal agriculture." JP Goodwin, employed at the Humane Society of the US, formerly at Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, as quoted on AR-Views, an animal rights Internet discussion group in 1996.
