General Mills supports group with anti-hunting agenda

[GulfCoast]

Here is a press release from www.wlfa.com:

General Mills, maker of a variety of breakfast cereals, is promoting the nation’s largest animal rights organization by distributing free calendars in specially marked boxes of Golden Grahams cereal.

The “Pets and Their Celebrities” 2002 calendars feature information from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and its Kids in Nature’s Defense (KIND) News. It includes photos of a number of celebrities and their pets, including Christina Applegate, David Alan Grier and Brendan Fraser.

KIND News is a classroom newspaper the HSUS uses to spread its animal rights message to children. Produced by the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education, a youth education division of the HSUS, this newspaper is printed monthly and is read by more than 1.2 million school
children, grades K-6.

“General Mills has made a tremendous mistake in its support of the Humane Society of the United States,” said WLFA President Bud Pidgeon. “In this partnership, General Mills and Golden Grahams cereal are promoting an organization that is determined to eliminate the American traditions of hunting, fishing, trapping, animal agriculture and other animal use.”

General Mills is not alone in their misunderstanding of the nation’s largest animal rights group.

“The HSUS has millions of people fooled into thinking it is raising money to save dogs and cats that are stranded in local shelters,” said Pidgeon. “The truth is HSUS does not operate or oversee any animal shelters. In fact, the organization spent less that one percent of its 1999 income of $67 million on grants to wildlife, animal habitat and dog and cat shelters.”

Take Action! Sportsmen should contact General Mills to express their extreme displeasure of its support for the Humane Society of the United States. Contact Stephen W. Sanger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Mills, at P.O. Box 1113, Minneapolis, MN, 55440 or call him at (763) 764-7600.

[ December 19, 2001: Message edited by: GulfCoast ]

[GulfCoast]

This is a link that will let you know what cereals they make, and links to Pillsbury and thier other products: http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/businesses/big_g/products.asp

[russell]

Other companies that contribute to anti-hunting groups include Pepsi and Coors brewing co. I have had local pepsi bottlers give to youth programs geared toward hunting however.

[mallardchaser]

damn, I like golden grahams.

[NOHERE]

THANKS GULF COAST...I JUST PULLED UP THE
WEB SITE FOR GENERAL MILLS WHICH YOU POSTED
ON YOUR MESSAGE...EVERY ONE ELSE NEEDS TO DO
SO AND GO TO COMMENTS AND SEND'EM A NICE
"DELTA MESSAGE"....HEY 4 EYE..GIVE'EM SOME
OF YOUR "MISSISSIPPI FRENCH".

[crow]

Just emailed with my intent to boycott their products until they withdraw all support of this unethical organization. Dang,I love those frozen Pillsbury bisquits, too!

[h2o_dog]

No problem here. I get all my cereals in the liquid form - "When the hunt is through, This Bud's for you". I'll make sure the kids lay off the Cheerios.

Thanks for the info.

[Model12]

Well if it helps or not I went to their site and explained that I was helping to spread the word of there choice to turn their backs on the group of sportsmen and women who actually provide 97% of conservation dollare in the country. It's a shame that ignorance of the situation leads to things like this....

[feedcall]

Cinnimon Toast Crunch? and Cookie Crisp I think. Oh well

[greenheadhunter2000]

Well,I did my part and sent them a long letter telling them how disappointed I am in them.
"Sirs,I'm really upset about a rumor that is spreading like wild fire that you all are supporting a anti-hunter group.I am an avid outdoorsman and have two kids,who really likes your products,whom I take hunting and fishing every chance I can.These people you are supporting know nothing of the Great Outdoors or the tremendous impact hunters have on supporting conservation groups who try to protect and perserve the very wild life we hunt so that our kids can have a future outdoors adventure when they grow up.They also don't understand what an impact there would be on wildlife if it weren't for hunters taking out some of the herds and flocks and keeping the numbers at a relatively stable count.They don't understand the impact starvation and disease would have on these animals if hunting was not allowed.I beg you to do some research on the snow goose and take notice how thier numbers exploded because we as hunters could not hunt them due to thier numbers being so low at one time.Now,they number in the millions and are slowly destroying not only thier own habitat,but the habitat of other waterfowl as well.Hunters and outdoorsmen are trying to help do thier part by trying to bring the numbers back down.Imagine, if you will,several hundred white tail deer trying to survive a severe winter with no food to eat because there's not a food supply to support thier numbers.I think you can see my point now and I'm sorry to have to say that from this time on my family and I will refrain from using any of your products untill you at General Mills discontinue your support of these people who can't seem to understand that we are not murders of animals,but conservationists who try to do everything we can to protect the very animals we hunt and to prevent mass starvation and disease from spreading.I never hear of these people buying hunting and fishing license or spending money to plant green fields and crops for the wildlife so that they will be able to survive the cold winters.The money we spend on planting and license and stamps,comes right out of our own pockets where the money we spend on your products comes from.I hope you will reconsider your decision to support these people,since word is speading fast all across America to hunters and fisherman."

Sincerely,
David Snow
Thought you guys might want to read it.

[GulfCoast]

This is the official position of the Humane Society of the United States on Hunting. It may be found, with the positions of other such organizations, at www.nssf.org and downloaded in pdf form. This should make you ill about every General Mills product you have ever purchased:

*********
The Humane Society of the United States
is strongly opposed to the hunting of any
living creature for fun, trophy, or for sport, because of the trauma, suffering, and death to the animals which results. The HSUS
also opposes such killing because of the
negative effect upon the young who may
learn to accept and live with needless suf-fering and killing. The HSUS believes that
a civilized society should not condone the
killing of any sentient creature as sport.
The HSUS believes that the characterization
of wild animals as “game” denies their
intrinsic value and belittles their ecological importance. The Society finds that a great deal of wildlife allegedly killed for management reasons actually is killed as “game” for “sporting” purposes. In such cases, we oppose both the killing and the duplicity. It is the goal of The HSUS to
ensure ethical stewardship of wildlife and
its environment.

The HSUS recognizes that the welfare and
responsible management of animals may,
on occasion, necessitate the killing of
wildlife. When such killing is permitted, it
must be used as a last resort, be demonstra-bly necessary, be conducted by responsible
officials, and methods utilized must result in an instantaneous and humane death.

The HSUS also recognizes that the legiti-mate
needs for human subsistence may necessitate the killing of wildlife. In such cases, killing must be accomplished in a humane and non-wasteful manner and must not involve endangered or threatened animals.

The Humane Society
of the United States
2100 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 452-1100 www.hsus.org
*********************

[Junior P]

Just gave them my .02 worth. Thanks for the info GC, I went to the website and under comments wrote them a nice dignified letter about their decision to support this cause. maybe my one response won't help but if all of us responded they might take a second look.