Carrie Underwood's pledge to Humane Society riles hunting groups

Fans of "American Idol" probably are aware that Carrie Underwood has recorded a rendition of Motley Crue's  hit song, "Home Sweet Home." It's being used as a farewell theme each week for contestants leaving the show.

Also, the song is being released as a digital single and partial proceeds will benefit the Humane Society of the United States.

"I’ve always loved this song, and besides being very fitting for `Idol,' to me, the title is also very fitting with animal rescue and finding animals their own homes," Underwood said on her website.

Very well, but hunters across America, many of them country folks and fans of Underwood, might turn against her because hunters and the Humane Society are not on good terms.

"Carrie Underwood has decided to use her talents to benefit an organization dedicated to destroying the rights of thousands of her fans," Rick Story, vice president of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, said in a news release. "HSUS does not operate or oversee animal shelters; it is a radical organization that seeks to end hunting and other responsible uses of animals in America."

U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, a lobbying and hunters rights group, urges sportsmen to contact executives at "American Idol's" parent company, Fox Broadcasting, and "demand that Underwood's song not be given a stage to raise money for HSUS."

We'll have to wait and see if Underwood changes her tune.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Carrie Underwood's plan to donate proceeds to Humane Society of the United States has drawn criticism of hunting groups. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Rachel]

The HSUS fights practices like canned hunting where tame animals are shot in fenced enclosures; live pigeon shoots where birds are trapped and released in front of waiting shooters; hound hunting where hunters use packs of dogs fitted with high-tech GPS devices and abandon them when they fail to hunt well; contest killing where hunters are awarded prizes for shooting the most or largest animals. Unfortunately the US Sportsmen's Alliance hasn't seem to have found a single form of wildlife abuse that it doesn't defend. I doubt a majority of Ms Underwood's fans support inhumane practices like these.

[Jordyn Barr]

wow if she wants to give the money to them she can do whatever she wants! im glad she is doing that for the animals animals need help too. anyways hunters are so mean killing animals! carrie can do whatever she wants. ugh wow.

[Kamie]

That is ridiculous. Carrie loves animals. She is dating a hinter. The two are NOT mutually exclusive. I love animals and believe in hunters rights. This idiot just needs to shut up and get a life.

[Janie]

This is a ridiculous article and theywill get no support from Fox I am sure. Why do radicals always stretch the truth. Carrie is for humane treatment of animals like most of us are and she has the right to donate to whoever she dang well pleases. Carrie's dad and boyfriend are hunters so she is not against hunters or hunting. The US Sportman's Alliance needs to go worry about bigger matters.

[berte]

Carrie's father might hunt but what's the boyfriends excuse??? Try living in your generations world!! Oh it's not for culling just for fun!!!! Great christian values. What kind of values have you people got???

[CJ]

I come from a hunting family and the US Sportsman Alliance needs to get over itself. Everyone has the right to feel how they want about hunting including Carrie.

[Sean]

If you look into the history of HSUS you will find that their leadership has made clear statements that they are against ALL hunting. Statements like the one about "canned hunting" made by Rachel above are used to positively distort people perceptions of HSUS and vilify hunters in the minds of the reader. But the truth is, HSUS is a radical group that seeks to take away the freedoms of tens of millions of American hunters and sportsmen.

Here are some examples of those statements...

"If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would." – Wayne Pacelle, HSUS

"Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cock fighting and dog fighting." – Wayne Pacelle, HSUS

The facts are clear and this is clearly rubbish. HSUS is just another radical group trying to take away traditional American freedoms. Even if you are not a hunter and sportsman, I don't know why you would support a group like this - because the freedoms which are important to you may be next.

Carrie - I was a fan of yours yesterday. I'm afraid I no longer can be today, and I'm not alone. You have every right to your own opinion, but with the celebrity given to you by a fan base you are now offending, comes tremendous responsibility. And that includes doing your research before supporting an organization like HSUS so publicly. They may not be what you think they are.

[Carol]

EVERYONE has a RIGHT to give to ANY charity of their choice. Everyone knew years ago that Carrie's is the Humane Society.

[DJ Sullivan]

Your right Ms. Underwood can support anything or anyone she would like. So can we.....I will no longer watch American Idol, buy her records or support her music in anyway.HSUS is an organziation that kills countless animals every year and are MUCH worse than any hunting there is.

America was built on tradition, and hunting is one of them!!

[William McMullin]

The US Sportsmen's Alliance is a radical hunting group that even most hunters do not support. No one takes their gripes seriously.

Yes, as weird as it would seem, The Humane Society is against the killing of animals. In fact, right now they're fighting against the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of seals in Canada every year, www.protectseals.org.

I love Carrie Underwood even more for what she is doing for the animals!

[S Miller]

I enjoy Carrie's right to support whatever charity she wants, but I will support my cause by ignoring show on FOX because I enjoy my rights to hunt and do it as I please. I don't torture animals, but God made us humans a higher being than they. They were created to be less important than human life.

If we got that straight, we would quit trying to save animals while we abort babies.

[skippy]

Three thousand people who are friends of Underwoods parents walked out of one of Underwoods concerts because the HSUS is trying to shut down all food chain animal breeders, including Underwoods own parents. Really Carrie you should use your brain about what you are doing.

[Scott]

This money is not going to you local Humane Society. It is going to the HSUS an animal rights group that lobbies against hunters and farmers. They use the humane society name to get people to believe that they are something other than a radical animal rights group.

[Rain1]

LOLz...reading this article & some ppl comments make me laught

Seriously, Carrie maybe won't need ppl who judge a SINGER solely based on she support a charity group (that against hunting)

You have to love how fixed & close-mind & (stupid ?) some ppl are really...

This is why American are & will be totally controlled by the medias. It's just so easy to manipulate ppl who can't think outside of their tiny box...

[Bill]

Last time I checked, we live in America where you have the right to do whatever you want. How arrogant of these pinheads to belittle her for donating to the charity of her choice. And, to the moron that said he wasn't going to watch Idol now.... wow... I'm sure they'll really miss you. lol I work in the media, and hear this lame argument all the time. 90 percent of the time the people still watch/buy/listen, etc.

Maybe the hunting group needs to quit trying to bully around people. She could easily have just kept the money for herself, but decided to give the money to a cause she thinks is worthwhile. So.... even though I have no personal problem with hunting, this group needs to get over itself.

[K. in the country]

It is not so much that people are upset that she is donating to a charity of her choice, but that she is trying to support the doing away with a complete lifestyle. What most don't understand about HSUS is that it is not the Humane Society that takes care of you dogs or cat when they get lost. This is the group that would rather slaughter a herd of deer to keep hunters from pursuing them in a manner that the state has determined both fair and legal. The populations of deer in most states are getting out of control., to the point of land owners in certain High society district hiring specialists to shoot and discard nuisance animals encroaching on their pretty grass or yard. What they also do is try to put an end to a complete way of life. One that basically was a major part of our founding this country. It is serious enough that the youth of today are showing their views in a public manner. Now when you get to the point to where kids are starting to get involved and upset, it is a bad thing to say the least. See the link about a recent Concert for Miss Underwood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffUz_lOTN_0

I don’t want her to stop singing, or enjoying what she is doing in her free time,. I just don’t want her throwing boat loads of money into organizations that force their will on me.

K in the country, where We don’t worship cattle, be cook them,

[Paul]

I think some of you are confusing the American Humane Society (AHS), and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The AHS is the one that operates the shelters, tries to find homes for animals, and encourages everyone to spay and neuter their pets. HSUS has been linked to domestic terrorist organizations like Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front (these are the ones that go around firebombing research labs and such) and is much, much, much more radical in their positions. Like many other radical organizations, they have carefully chosen their name so that it is easily confused with other, more mainstream organizations like the AHS. Ms. Underwood herself may be unaware of exactly whom she is supporting. I can't assume that, though, and until she drops her support of HSUS, I'm not supporting her or anyone that sponsors anything that she has any involvement with.

[Anita]

Its unbelievable that being opposed to cruetly to animals is now a bad thing! The HSUS has been around for over 50 years and it is not and never has been a radical organization.

From the USUS site:
Today, recognizing that local animal shelters cannot handle all animal needs by themselves, The HSUS and its partner, The Fund for Animals, provide sanctuary and direct care to thousands of creatures, big and small—making the duo among the largest and most diverse sanctuary operators in the United States.

The Sportsman Alliance is after free publicity from this charity single. Free publicity would lead to donations FOR THEM. I would suggest that if you want to support hunters' rights then you would be better off supporting the NRA.

[Deborah]

Paul has it right. I've thoroughly investigated HSUS and AHS. AHS is the real deal. All my dogs and cat are from our local shelter. They agree AHS is the one to support. Over 90% of the money HSUS takes in DOES NOT go to animal rescue. I have both of Ms. Underwood's albums and enjoy following her music. I do wish she had taken the time to pick individual shelters to receive the benefits. Perhaps, one in Nashville and one in her home town or state. If HSUS gets it way, some day Ms. Underwood will not be able to purchase a cute little rat terrier like she owns now. She won't even be allowed by law to own one. That is their goal.

[Louis]

You cannot support just part of what the HSUS stands for in their stated list of objectives. To support the HSUS in any cause supports them in all causes. If Ms. Underwood's dad and boyfriend hunt then they need ot wake up and realize that the HSUS does not support hunting in any shape or fashion. I would bet that Underwood does not support hunting either. Either you have to be for the HSUS or against them. There is no in-between!

[Tim]

Carrie just got herself one more fan... Being against cruelty to any living creature, especially to animals who cannot talk on their behalf, is one of the highest moral causes of humankind. What makes us human is not the existence of a big brain in our big heads but caring for other living beings, including animals. Caring for animals-in-need doesn't stop one from caring for people-in-need. Ones who claim the opposite need to do some soul-searching before it's too late.

[Sam]

"HSUS’s current goals have little to do with animal shelters. The group has taken aim at the traditional morning meal of bacon and eggs with a tasteless “Breakfast of Cruelty” campaign. Its newspaper op-eds demand that consumers “help make this a more humane world [by] reducing our consumption of meat and egg products.” Since its inception, HSUS has tried to limit the choices of American consumers, opposing dog breeding, conventional livestock and poultry farming, rodeos, circuses, horse racing, marine aquariums, and fur trapping."

Although HSUS has enough cash reserves (over $100 million) to house and care for every abused and neglected animal in the country, they do not operate a single animal shelter. Your local animal shelter is in no way involved with, or funded by, the HSUS.

[Evadne]

Hunters are responsible for the endangerment and extinction of countless species. Now, appropriately enough, they're a dying breed, but they're still determined to show how backward and narrow minded they can be.

[Marilyn]

Several posters have repeated the "Sportsmen's" Alliance claim that the Humane Society does not operate any animal shelters. OK. So what? Have they ever claimed that they do? They just had a pet photo contest that raised over half a million dollars to be distributed among animal shelters. That's great, but there are other animals that deserve humane treatment, including the ones these "sportsmen" are blasting with rifles, and yes, animals in laboratories and factory farms.

"Sam" has a link to an "activist cash" website that is run by a restaurant industry front group that actually defends veal, foie gras, animal testing on live dogs and cats and clubbing baby seals! But they're so concerned about animals in shelters! Yeah.

[Evan]

Wildlife benefits much more from hunters than anyone else. We do more to protect their habitat than anyone else. We look after their health more than anyone else. People don't see that the only asset hunters really have is the wildlife. FYI HSUS supports killing of wildlife to control population. So why is it so different when a hunter kills a deer compared someone the HSUS hires? Anti-hunting groups will always amaze me.

Back on topic. The values of a singer matter to the fans. If she supports this group and what they stand for, people have every right to decide they don't want to listen to her "music". It's called integrity. What if Pearl Jam decided to star in a Pepsi commercial? They would lose a lot of fans because they are known for being anti-establishment, but they actually write their own songs and put some heart into it. This just shows how phony this "country girl" really is...