Your recent column on the Humane Society of the United States caught my eye because I grew up hunting, fishing and trapping in Kansas fields and rivers (“Just who is the Humane Society of the United States?,” 1/18). As a hunter and also a member of The HSUS, I can tell you that Steve Gilliland’s characterization of The HSUS is 100 percent wrong.

First, I’m a devoted lifelong hunter and a member of the NRA:  put simply, I would not support The HSUS if it were trying to ban hunting. Instead, The HSUS, like real sportsmen everywhere, opposes cruel and unfair cruel methods of taking game, but embraces members (like me) who hunt and fish in a sporting fashion.  Remember, we hunters were the ones who stopped the baiting of waterfowl, jacklighting of deer, and the wanton commercial slaughter of wildlife.

Second, the source for Gilliland’s claims, Humane Watch, is not a “watchdog group.” It’s a phony nonprofit run by Richard Berman, a Washington PR guy who’s made his name taking money from special interests to attack the American Cancer Society, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and now the HSUS.

Third, the HSUS devotes the vast bulk of its resources, not a “mere fraction,” to helping animals. The HSUS runs the nation’s most effective programs to combat animal fighting, puppy mills, pet overpopulation, factory farming, and so many other large-scale abuses of animals.  It is also the number one direct-care organization for animals in the nation.  Number One.

That’s why I’m proud to support The HSUS.

René P. Tatro, Wilsonville, Ore., a K-State grad formerly from Moundridge