Political hardball Yet a darker portrayal of HSUS overshadows the group's feel-good persona in many sectors. For AVMA, Pacelle represents an
influential force operating on emotions that challenge the association's welfare authority and science-backed statements.
While AVMA strives to be the nation's last word on welfare, Pacelle plays political hardball in Washington. "We share many AVMA goals in many respects. We're against animal fighting and killing animals for fur. But we do not take
the same positions on animal-agriculture issues. We want Americans to eat fewer animals," Pacelle says. Breakdown That kind of talk ended HSUS' budding partnership with the AVMA Executive Board last year, when the two groups drafted a joint
statement to Congress supporting mutually endorsed legislation. Board members dumped the draft letter over HSUS' support of
an Arizona ballot initiative to ban sow gestation stalls, a move that crossed many allied veterinarians. That ballot initiative passed, and California and Colorado residents soon will vote on similar measures. "I did not go into a relationship with AVMA with the expectation that there would be perfect synchrony in terms of our views,"
Pacelle recalls. "But I did expect the leading veterinary profession to move more aggressively on issues that we both supported
— not ones that should have stretched peoples' minds. If not vets, then who are the advocates for animals?" For millions of Americans, he says, the job belongs to HSUS.
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