(Beth Clifton collage)
What’s in a name? That which we call a humane society by any other name may be more easily distinguished. Or not.
DENVER, Colorado––The Denver Dumb Friends League, for 115 years enjoying arguably the strongest name recognition of any U.S. regional or local humane society, on March 7, 2025 rebranded itself Humane Colorado.
The Denver Dumb Friends League rebranding came three weeks after the Humane Society of the U.S. on Valentine’s Day 2025 rebranded itself Humane World for Animals.
(See What is former Humane Society of the U.S. trying to hide with name change?)
Humane World for Animals, founded in 1954 as the National Humane Society, had already rebranded itself once, becoming the Humane Society of the U.S. in 1957 under pressure of a lawsuit from the rival American Humane Association.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Not everyone understands”
In the current rebranding, Humane Society International, the biggest HSUS subsidiary, became Humane World for Animals International.
The Humane Society Legislative Fund, the next biggest HSUS subsidiary, became the Humane World Action Fund.
Explained Humane World for Animals president Kitty Block in an open letter to donors.“We have found that not everyone understands the extent and scope of our work.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to change our name to better reflect our global mission and reach.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“‘Humane society’ does not translate well”
“The term “humane society” does not translate well internationally,” Block said, “and in the United States is often associated only with local animal shelters,” a sore point at HSUS for decades.
As the Humane Society of the United States, HSUS had for 70 years heard complaints from local humane societies that HSUS fundraising appeals were poaching their donors, amplified in recent years by groups representing various animal use industries.
Humane Colorado president Apryl Steele indicated that the Denver Dumb Friends League, founded in 1910, felt similar pressures.
Apryl Steele, DVM.
“We have long recognized a disconnect”
“We have long recognized the disconnect between our historic name and the communities we serve,” Steele said in a prepared statement.
“Ongoing feedback from community members who felt our name was out of touch highlighted the obstacles we faced to reaching new adopters, volunteers, donors, and supporters.
“While ‘the Dumb Friends League’ remains a beloved name by many Coloradoans with a connection to our programs and services,” Steele conceded, “it has become increasingly outdated and insensitive.
“The word ‘dumb,’” Steele alleged, “and misconceptions regarding its meaning and intent made it difficult for some people to find, access, and connect with our good work.
The original Denver Dumb Friends League shelter, opened in 1910.
Dumb potential friends
“Potential supporters who were either confused or troubled by the name struggled to see us as a leading animal welfare organization they were inclined to support,” Steele continued, suggesting thereby that potential friends of Colorado Humane were dumb friends indeed.
Steele for three years headed the Colorado Humane Society, a Denver Dumb Friends League subsidiary since 2011, before her 2018 promotion to head the entire organization.
But the Denver Dumb Friends League elected to become Humane Colorado instead of simply morphing into the Colorado Humane Society.
This may have been in part because the name “Colorado Humane Society” came with a tail rattling like a string of empty beer cans.
Bob Rohde early & late in his 41-year tenure as Denver Dumb Friends League chief executive.
Why not “Colorado Humane Society”?
Founded in 1881, nearly 30 years before the Denver Dumb Friends League, the Colorado Humane Society in 1901 became the original home of the Colorado Bureau of Child & Animal Protection, which later evolved into separate government agencies.
Outcompeted for public recognition and donor support by the Denver Dumb Friends League throughout the 20th century, the Colorado Humane Society as recently as 2007 still operated two animal shelters, one serving the cities of Englewood and Littleton, the other in Lakewood.
But the Lakewood shelter closed in October 2007 “after donations fell when it was discovered that animal carcasses were disposed of in a dumpster,” explained Denver Post reporter Howard Pankratz.
Denver Dumb Friends League founder Jean Gower. (Jean Milne Taylor)
Busted
Colorado attorney general John Suthers in December 2008 put the Colorado Humane Society into receivership and removed then-executive director Mary C. Warren, her husband Robert Warren, who was development director, and Mary Warren’s daughter, Stephenie L. Gardner, who had been operations director, from leadership roles in the organization.
Suthers alleged that they had falsely represented the Colorado Humane Society as “no-kill,” while killing up to 29% of the animals they received; that they had raised about $3 million since 2003 without maintaining accountability and nonprofit status; had co-mingled personal money with society funds; illegally operated the society’s veterinary clinic; and did not fully document spending $66,155 in donations raised to help animals affected by Hurricane Katrina.
In January 2010 the Warrens were barred for 10 years from operating or managing any nonprofit organization in Colorado, and from owning or operating any business covered by the Colorado Pet Animal Care Facilities Act.
Bob Rohde & “dumb friend.”
(Denver Dumb Friends League photo)
The name lived on
“While the Colorado Humane Society shelter was shut down, its name lived on,” recounted Korene Gallegos of the Denver Post in September 2011.
“It’s a good name,” 40-year Denver Dumb Friends League president Robert “Bob” Rohde told her, arranging for the Dumb Friends League to acquire both the name and the charter to investigate cruelty statewide conferred by the legislature 120 years earlier.
Soon Dumb Friends League agents commissioned by the state Bureau of Animal Protection began pursuing cruelty cases in 43 of the 64 Colorado counties––basically all counties that lack locally based commissioned cruelty investigators.
The Denver Dumb Friends League as it looked in 1973.
“Your new Dumb Friend”
Rohde, among the last presidents of a major humane society to work his way up from animal care technician, joined the Dumb Friends League at age 23 in 1973, along with his wife Jann, two years younger.
Making the most of the Denver Dumb Friends League name recognition, Rohde famously introduced himself to people as “Your new Dumb Friend.”
(See Retired: Bob Rohde personified “your Dumb Friends” for 45 years.)
Humane Colorado, which also owns the name Humane Society of Denver, Inc., was incorporated on September 8, 1910.
Founder Jean Gower meant for the organization to emulate Our Dumb Friends League, of London, England, founded in 1897, at a time when the word “dumb” indicated only that animals cannot speak for themselves.
Nanditha & Chinny Krishna.
(Facebook photo)
The original Dumb Friends League became the Blue Cross
Initially engaged chiefly in horse protection, Our Dumb Friends League opened an animal hospital in the Victoria district of London in 1906, and in 1912 initiated a subsidiary, The Blue Cross Fund, to help horses during the Balkan War of 1912-1913, a preliminary to World War I (1914-1918.)
By the end of World War I, the Blue Cross Fund had become known as just the Blue Cross, and had subsumed Our Dumb Friends League, though the “Dumb Friends” name was also still used as late as 1955.
The Blue Cross continues as a leading British veterinary charity, having inspired emulation by the Blue Cross of India, founded in 1959, headed since 1964 by Chinny Krishna, and the Blue Cross of Hyderabad, also in India, founded by actress Amala Akkineni.
Google Ngram Viewer charts track recognition factors for four animal advocacy organizations before & after name changes.
Will name change help?
Whether switching from the colorful and well established Denver Dumb Friends League moniker to the plain vanilla Humane Colorado will actually help the $20-million-a-year humane society remains to be seen.
Humane history is filled with examples of both successful institutional name changes and examples of dismal failure.
The transition of the National Humane Society into the Humane Society of the U.S. was conspicuously successful.
Helen Jones, at age 29 in 1954 the youngest cofounder of the Humane Society of the U.S., three years later formed the more militant National Catholic Society for Animal Welfare.
Jones on July 10, 1966 led the first-ever protest for animals outside the White House, opposing the then-pending Laboratory Animal Protection Act against the views of all other major animal protection groups because she believed it did more to legitimize vivisection than to save animals.
Helen Jones organized this July 10, 1966 demonstration outside the White House.
From Catholic Society to ISAR
But the National Catholic Society for Animal Welfare name did not catch on.
Finally, in 1977, Jones renamed her organization the International Society for Animal Rights, more-or-less stealing the name from Animal Rights International, formed by Henry Spira one year earlier.
The International Society for Animal Rights, perhaps better known as ISAR, became a $450,000-a-year organization before Jones ran into trouble for alleged animal hoarding, and was forced out of the presidency by two ISAR board members, Susan Dapsis and attorney Henry Mark Holzer, in 1995. Jones died in 1998.
ISAR, apparently surviving on name recognition alone, in 2023 attracted $152,355 in donations, paying Dapsis total compensation of $145,760 plus $11,400 in office rent, paying Holzer $48,000.
March for the Animals, 1990.
(Tom Regan Archive photo)
From TSU to ARM
Trans-Species Unlimited, better known as TSU, was founded in Pennsylvania in 1981 by George Cave and Dana Stuchell, at about the same time that Ingrid Newkirk formed People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA].
Trans-Species Unlimited, despite a name not producing instant recognition of what it meant, become an early rival to PETA for prominence within the animal rights movement, but faded after heavily backing the 1990 “March for the Animals” in Washington D.C., which attracted about 20,000 participants after advertising that it would attract 100,000.
Raising $397,018 in 1990, well below expectations, Trans-Species Unlimited changed names to Animal Rights Mobilization in 1991 and raised just $96,328.
Animal Rights Mobilization subsequently split into two organizations, one headed by Kay Sievers in Chicago, which continued to use the Animal Rights Mobilization name, and the other, headed by Robin Duxbury in Denver, retitled Project Equus. Both faded from view in the first decade of the 21st century.
(Beth Clifton collage)
From NCDL to Dogs Trust
The National Canine Defence League, of England, began on February 12, 1891, when the Lady Gertrude Stock called together a small party of other exhibitors at the Crufts dog show to discuss ways and means of accomplishing humane rabies control.
Among the group was also Ernest Bell, a vegetarian since 1874, who later in 1891 founded the London Vegetarian Society, and in 1914 formed the Performing & Captive Animals Defence League with longtime colleague Jessie Wade.
The National Canine Defence League eventually eradicated rabies from England, Scotland, and Wales through vaccinations provided by a string of nonprofit veterinary clinics.
Clarissa Baldwin.
(Dogs Trust photo)
But despite campaign success, the National Canine Defence League was nearly bankrupt when Clarissa Baldwin, a 24-year-old former fashion model, was hired in 1974 as head of public relations. Baldwin in 1986 inherited the presidency of the National Canine Defence League after a major management scandal, she told ANIMALS 24-7 two decades later, because “There was no one else left in the office.”
Closing the last few dilapidated National Canine Defense League clinics, Baldwin replaced them with pet adoption centers––16 at her retirement in 2014 21 now.
By 2003 Baldwin had increased National Canine Defence League revenues to £31 million a year, then renamed the organization Dogs Trust and within a year had more than doubled income to £63 million.
Revenue has remained in that range; Dogs Trust raised £69 million in 2023.
Belton Mouras. (Beth Clifton collage)
From United Animal Nations to Red Rover
United Animal Nations, founded in 1987 as host for the annual Summit for the Animals conference, refocused on disaster relief after founder Belton Mouras retired, then refocused again on humane education, and became Red Rover in 2011.
Raising $2.1 million in 2011, Red Rover raised $5.2 million in 2022.
(See Animal rights movement pioneer Belton Mouras, 90.)
John Walsh, from his book Time is Short And The Water Rises. Animal rescuer Walsh was for 50 years the public face of first the International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and then WSPA.
From WSPA to WAP
The British-based World Society for the Protection of Animals [WSPA] was formed in 1981 through the merger of the Dutch-based World Federation for the Protection of Animals, founded in 1950, and the International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a Massachusetts SPCA subsidiary founded in 1959.
Until October 2011, the former WSPA boasted more than 450 “member societies” in 110 nations. On that basis, WSPA and the ancestral World Federation for the Protection of Animals had for 60 years purported to represent the global humane community.
After running into ongoing conflict with member societies over positions and policies which were increasingly at odds with those of many and perhaps most, WSPA cut loose the “member societies” and three years later, in 2014, rebranded itself World Animal Protection.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals raised £27.8 million in 2014, but spent £28.9 million, for a net loss of £1.1 million.
Still losing money, World Animal Protection raised £29.6 million in 2023, but spent £36 million, for a net loss of £6.4 million.
(See World Animal Protection bakes Mike Baker.)
Compassion Over Killing appears to have committed suicide in becoming Animal Outlook; five years later, the original name still appears twice as often in print.
Compassion Over Killing to Animal Outlook
The two most recent name changes among animal advocacy organizations of national note both came in 2020.
Compassion Over Killing, founded in 1995 to expose cruelty to farmed animals and promote vegan living, changed names to Animal Outlook.
Public support by 2029 had risen to $2.2 million, but after the name change fell to $1.7 million in 2023.
From NEAVS to Rise for Animals
The New England Anti-Vivisection Society, founded in 1895, became Rise for Animals in 2020, having survived several management scandals in the 1980s and 1990s, but failing to rebuild public support that peaked circa 1987 at about $1.4 million a year.
Public support in 2019 dwindled to $329,328, but by 2022 was back up to $802,209.
Explained Pentagram, the company hired to do the rebranding, “The NEAVS name (and acronym) was long and unwieldy and tied the group to one region of the country. The organization wanted to replace it with something that was more direct and empowering.”
Merritt & Beth Clifton with our dumbest but noisiest friend, Henry the rooster.
Similar thoughts seem to be behind the rebranding of the Denver Dumb Friends League.
But in a state with as many other animal protection organizations as Colorado, in which there are currently 603 incorporated nonprofit rescues and humane societies, the name Humane Colorado could easily get lost in the crowd.
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