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Succession’s James Cromwell put his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Humane Society of the United States exactly where it belongs—in the trash. Why? To condemn the organization’s role in propping up factory farms by sitting on the board of directors for the Global Animal Partnership—the group behind misleading “animal welfare certified” labels at Whole Foods Markets.
Read Cromwell’s powerful op-ed below—then, find out how YOU can take action.
My Humane Society Award Is Trash—Literally and Figuratively
Written by James Cromwell
In 2014, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) awarded me a Lifetime Achievement Award during its 60th Anniversary Gala. I was honored to receive it, and until recently, I was very proud of it.
My perspective changed after I discovered that the HSUS is still “proudly supporting” the Global Animal Partnership (G.A.P.) as a member of its board. G.A.P. allows animal-exploiting companies to place grossly misleading “animal welfare certified” labels on meat, eggs, and dairy. This highly deceptive humane-washing scheme tricks consumers into believing that animals on factory farms are well cared for. Terms like “animal welfare certified,” along with images of happy animals in grassy pastures, create an illusion to mask abuse and suffering.
After learning about the HSUS’ involvement with G.A.P., I wrote to HSUS President and CEO Kitty Block, urging the organization to resign from G.A.P.’s board of directors. She defended the HSUS’ position, but I’m not buying it, and neither should anybody who considers themselves an animal advocate. An award from an organization that is supposed to protect animals means nothing if that organization betrays them. We need to demand what animals deserve, and settling for slightly less terrible cruelty is being complicit in their abuse—period. I threw my award in the trash, where it belongs.
The HSUS’ affiliation with G.A.P. provides cover for one of the cruelest industries and gives the public the green light to buy the flesh of animals who were abused in extremely violent ways before workers slaughtered them.
PETA found rampant abuse at all 12 G.A.P.-certified sites that it investigated. The group has shown the HSUS the evidence of workers kicking, stomping on, throwing, punching, and beating turkeys. One worker held a turkey up by her injured neck, mimicked masturbation, and then dropped her on the floor and left her to die. When they’re not confined and abused on filthy factory farms, these emotionally complex birds enjoy having their feathers stroked, gobbling along to music, and playing together.
I love all animals, but it was a pig who got me to think deeply about factory farming. Pigs are sensitive, intelligent animals who find joy in the simple pleasures of life, but on G.A.P.-certified farms, they can be kept indoors without sunlight or fresh air for their entire lives. They’re mutilated without any pain relief, forcibly artificially inseminated, kept in severely crowded conditions, robbed of their beloved piglets, and transported in all weather extremes to slaughterhouses, where they’re killed in front of other terrified animals.
My friends at PETA say, “Every animal is someone.” All animals can feel terror, pain, loneliness, and love, and we must push to prevent needless suffering. Going vegan is the one sure way to protect turkeys, pigs, and other animals factory-farmed for their flesh, and that’s what the HSUS should promote. And it’s why I’ve been vegan for decades.
I will continue to put pressure on the HSUS until it does the right thing by animals and those who trust it to do so. Please join me at PETA.org/GAP.
I won’t be associated with the HSUS as long as it’s affiliated with G.A.P.
James Cromwell is an Oscar-nominated actor, a star of Succession and the Fox crime drama Murder in a Small Town, and an honorary director of PETA.
Join James Cromwell—Help End the ‘Humane’ Lies
Kind consumers can take action by going vegan and by urging organizations to stop propping up the cruel animal agriculture industry. Please sign PETA’s petition telling “animal protection” groups to resign from the Global Animal Partnership’s board of directors immediately:
