Stories about the famous wolf in sheep’s clothing have been around since before the days of Christ, originally coined by Aesop in ancient Greece. The familiar tale is old, but is as relevant today as it was many centuries ago.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) brings this fable full circle in their battle currently being waged against animal agriculture in the U.S. While disguised as a gentle lamb seeking to improve care for animals, the group is actually a vegan version of Aesop’s carnivore much more interested in eliminating meat production in this country and forcing meatless diets upon Americans.

In the New Testament, Jesus later alluded to Aesop’s fable, talking about false profits in Matthew 7: 15-16, and how “They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them."

If a skeptic takes the time to study HSUS, the fruit of their efforts tells a tale very different than the animal welfare image they portray. A recent advertisement placed in the USA Today by the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) points out that HSUS shares less than one-half of 1 percent of the donations it receives with local pet shelters. Instead, the massive HSUS budget goes to pushing legislation and ballot initiatives to implement laws that hinder meat production and forward their goal of a vegetarian society.

"HSUS is a humane society in name only,” said David Martosko, CCF Director of Research. "The Humane Society of the United States raises tens of millions of dollars annually from Americans who believe their donations filter down to local pet shelters, directly improving the lives of dogs and cats. But instead, their donations support a huge staff of lawyers and lobbyists, bloated executive pension plans, exorbitant fundraising expenses, and PETA-style propaganda campaigns. Animal lovers should start holding the group to a higher standard.”

The “fruit” of HSUS is so rotten in so many ways that Martosko has dedicated a blog and Web site at HumaneWatch.org to point out the deception of HSUS. Through its effective tactics, HSUS has already imposed its agriculturally crippling measures in several states, including Michigan and California. This fall, HSUS is setting its sites on Ohio (now in the disguise of the group Ohioans for Humane Farms) by attempting to get an issue on the ballot that would set the rules for the recently passed Issue 2 Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.

“While Ohioans overwhelming supported Issue 2 --The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board -- in November, HSUS is trying to overturn the will of the people,” wrote John Torres, the Farm Bureau organization director in Ross, Pickaway, Hocking and Fairfield Counties, in a recent editorial. “Rather, the referendum by the people was designed to establish a board of Ohio experts in food safety, animal welfare, veterinary medicine, academia and farming to properly research and establish high standards for Ohio's livestock farmers to abide by in an open and transparent process. It's clear HSUS will not be happy until they can force their extreme animal rights views on Ohioans. While they claim that they are asking for ‘modest’ reform, don't be fooled. They want to dismantle the breadbasket of America by chipping away at it one ballot initiative, one bill and one lawsuit at a time.”

In contrast to the strong-arm tactics of HSUS, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland recently signed into law the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. The Board consists of 13 appointed members including include three family farmers, two veterinarians (one of whom is the state veterinarian), a food safety expert, a representative of a local humane society, two members from statewide farm organizations, the dean of an Ohio agriculture college and two members representing Ohio consumers. The Board will set standards for livestock and poultry care that take into account issues of food safety, local availability and affordability of food, and best farm management practices for animal wellbeing.

“HSUS wants to dictate the rules before those 13 Ohio experts have had a chance to review for themselves what needs to be done to improve livestock farming in Ohio in an open and transparent process,” Torres wrote.

So please, be on the watch for HSUS and the Ohioans for Humane Farms and expose this animal welfare lamb for the vegan wolf that it really is.

For more information visit HumaneWatch.org.

Matt Reese writes for Ohio’s Country Journal and lives in Baltimore, Ohio. For questions or comments, please contact him at mkcreese@yahoo.com.

You can feel its sting on a raw January day when the snow blows parallel to the ground. On a warm spring day you can feel it ruffle your hair and brush your skin as it passes by.

You can’t see the wind, but you know it is there. With interest and legislative

mandates for renewable energy in Ohio, harnessing that wind for energy will be an important part of the state’s renewable energy portfolio in the future, though it is not without controversy. Land use, property value, birds and wildlife and public safety are a few of the concerns with wind energy, but there are clear benefits to the use of wind energy. Energy users stand to benefit from the additional source of energy and landowners have the chance at a new revenue stream from their property.

“There are a broad range of opinions in the area,” said Fred Cooke, the Farm Bureau president in Richland County, one of the sites being considered for a wind farm. “It depends on what you want to believe, but we need more energy in this country and if we can use the wind, it makes a lot of sense to me.”

Cooke has led groups from the county to tour wind farms in other states and learned a lot from the experience.

“According to homeowners we talked to in Indiana, they forget the turbines are there after a couple of weeks,” Cooke said. “There are legitimate concerns with this, but it creates jobs and additional revenue for communities and gain for the landowners. There is that fact that some people just don’t like to look at them, but I also have neighbors that think it is the greatest thing that could happen in a community.”

For several years, a number of wind companies have been researching Ohio’s wind resources and preparing proposals for wind farms. In this process, the companies lease land that has potential as a wind site and erect anemometers to collect extensive wind data. From there, they move forward with proposals that take into account the wind resources, proximity to transmission lines, environmental factors, and many other considerations. The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) then reviews these proposals. The OPSB Web site currently lists 6 pending cases involving wind farms in Van Wert, Paulding, Richland, Crawford, Hardin, and Champaign counties. This month, OPSB is announcing the parameters for 3 of these proposed wind projects around Ohio.

“OPSB conducts extensive reviews of the proposals and prepares a report naming the conditions of their approval. This month we will likely see the final vote and approval of OSPB on three of the projects,” said Dale Arnold, Ohio Farm Bureau’s director of energy policy. “Once they approve the projects, construction can start. The OPSB gives the wind companies the permission to proceed and we could see construction starting this summer or fall for some of these projects.”

The projects range in size from 25 turbines producing 50 megawatts of energy on up to as many as 100 2-megawatt turbines over a 5 to 6 township area — 1 megawatt meets the energy needs of 300 to 400 homes.

Arnold also points out that the wind farms of Ohio will be very different from the vast expanses of turbines out west. The terrain of Ohio, higher population, and environmental factors of Ohio will result in smaller clusters of turbines that tie into the existing power infrastructure.

This first round of wind projects in Ohio will likely lead to more projects that capitalize on the wind energy advantages in the northern and western parts of the state.

“Though our wind resources are lower than other states to the west, the advantage with Ohio is that we are close to transmission lines. In fact, we have two major lines running right through our project,” said Mike Pullins, with Everpower, the wind company behind the Buckeye Wind Project in Champaign County. “And, we have the population close by to use the energy. When you transport electricity, you lose a portion of it. The further you go, the more you lose. Ohio is a crossroads for energy and we can be more efficient in the distribution and use of wind energy than they can further west…This is one more way to utilize the resources we have to create jobs, energy and benefit the economy.”

Even if we can’t see it, we’ve always known the wind was there. It seems like it is about time we make good use of it.

Matt Reese writes for Ohio’s Country Journal and lives in Baltimore, Ohio. For questions or comments, please contact him at mkcreese@yahoo.com.