![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-03-08_18-06-45-518-e1741486056458.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n DENVER, Colorado\u2013\u2013<\/strong>The Denver Dumb Friends League,\u00a0 for 115 years enjoying arguably the strongest name recognition of any U.S. regional or local humane society,\u00a0 on March 7,\u00a0 2025 rebranded itself Humane Colorado.<\/p>\n The Denver Dumb Friends League rebranding came three weeks after the Humane Society of the U.S. on Valentine\u2019s Day 2025 rebranded itself Humane World for Animals.<\/p>\n (See What is former Humane Society of the U.S. trying to hide with name change?<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Humane World for Animals,\u00a0 founded in 1954 as the National Humane Society,\u00a0 had already rebranded itself once,\u00a0 becoming the Humane Society of the U.S. in 1957 under pressure of a lawsuit from the rival American Humane Association.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the current rebranding,\u00a0 Humane Society International,\u00a0 the biggest HSUS subsidiary,\u00a0 became Humane World for Animals International.<\/p>\n The Humane Society Legislative Fund,\u00a0 the next biggest HSUS subsidiary,\u00a0 became the Humane World Action Fund.<\/p>\n Explained Humane World for Animals president Kitty Block in an open letter to donors.\u201cWe have found that not everyone understands the extent and scope of our work.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter careful consideration, we have decided to change our name to better reflect our global mission and reach.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe term \u201chumane society\u201d does not translate well internationally,\u201d\u00a0 Block said, \u00a0\u201cand in the United States is often associated only with local animal shelters,\u201d\u00a0 a sore point at HSUS for decades.<\/p>\n As the Humane Society of the United States,\u00a0 HSUS had for 70 years heard complaints from local humane societies that HSUS fundraising appeals were poaching their donors,\u00a0 amplified in recent years by groups representing various animal use industries.<\/p>\n Humane Colorado president Apryl Steele indicated that the Denver Dumb Friends League,\u00a0 founded in 1910,\u00a0 felt similar pressures.<\/p>\n Apryl Steele, DVM.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe have long recognized the disconnect between our historic name and the communities we serve,\u201d\u00a0 Steele said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n \u201cOngoing feedback from community members who felt our name was out of touch highlighted the obstacles we faced to reaching new adopters, \u00a0volunteers, \u00a0donors, and supporters.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile \u2018the Dumb Friends League\u2019 remains a beloved name by many Coloradoans with a connection to our programs and services,\u201d\u00a0 Steele conceded, \u00a0\u201cit has become increasingly outdated and insensitive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe word \u2018dumb,\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Steele alleged, \u00a0\u201cand misconceptions regarding its meaning and intent made it difficult for some people to find, \u00a0access, \u00a0and connect with our good work.<\/p>\n The original Denver Dumb Friends League shelter, opened in 1910.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPotential 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,\u201d\u00a0 Steele continued,\u00a0 suggesting thereby that potential friends of Colorado Humane were dumb friends indeed.<\/p>\n Steele for three years headed the Colorado Humane Society,\u00a0 a Denver Dumb Friends League subsidiary since 2011,\u00a0 before her 2018 promotion to head the entire organization.<\/p>\n But the Denver Dumb Friends League elected to become Humane Colorado instead of simply morphing into the Colorado Humane Society.<\/p>\n This may have been in part because the name \u201cColorado Humane Society\u201d came with a tail rattling like a string of empty beer cans.<\/p>\n Bob Rohde early & late in his 41-year tenure as Denver Dumb Friends League chief executive.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Founded in 1881,\u00a0 nearly 30 years before the Denver Dumb Friends League, \u00a0the Colorado Humane Society in 1901 became the original home of the Colorado Bureau of Child & Animal Protection,\u00a0 which later evolved into separate government agencies.<\/p>\n Outcompeted for public recognition and donor support by the Denver Dumb Friends League throughout the 20th century,\u00a0 the Colorado Humane Society as recently as 2007 still operated two animal shelters,\u00a0 one serving the cities of Englewood and Littleton,\u00a0 the other in Lakewood.<\/p>\n But the Lakewood shelter closed in October 2007\u00a0\u201cafter donations fell when it was discovered that animal carcasses\u00a0were disposed of in a dumpster,\u201d\u00a0 explained\u00a0Denver Post<\/em>\u00a0reporter Howard Pankratz.<\/p>\n Denver Dumb Friends League founder Jean Gower.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>(Jean Milne Taylor)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Colorado attorney general John Suthers\u00a0 in December 2008 put the Colorado Humane Society into receivership and removed then-executive director\u00a0Mary C. Warren, \u00a0her husband Robert Warren, \u00a0who was development\u00a0director, \u00a0and Mary Warren\u2019s daughter, \u00a0Stephenie L. Gardner,\u00a0 who had been operations director,\u00a0 from leadership roles in the organization.<\/p>\n Suthers alleged that they had falsely represented the Colorado Humane\u00a0Society as \u201cno-kill,\u201d \u00a0while killing up to 29% of the animals they\u00a0received; \u00a0\u00a0that they had raised about $3 million since 2003 without maintaining accountability and nonprofit status;\u00a0 had co-mingled personal money with\u00a0society funds; \u00a0illegally operated the society\u2019s veterinary clinic;\u00a0 and did not fully document spending $66,155 in donations raised to\u00a0help animals affected by Hurricane Katrina.<\/p>\n In January 2010 the Warrens were barred for 10 years from operating or managing any nonprofit organization in Colorado, \u00a0and from owning or operating any business covered by the Colorado Pet Animal Care Facilities Act.<\/p>\n Bob Rohde & \u201cdumb friend.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> \u201cWhile the Colorado Humane Society shelter was shut down, \u00a0its name\u00a0lived on,\u201d\u00a0 recounted Korene Gallegos of the Denver Post<\/em> in September 2011.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good name,\u201d\u00a0 40-year Denver Dumb Friends League president Robert \u201cBob\u201d Rohde told her,\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Soon Dumb Friends League agents commissioned by the state Bureau of Animal Protection began pursuing cruelty cases in 43 of the 64 Colorado counties\u2013\u2013basically all counties that lack locally based commissioned cruelty investigators.<\/p>\n The Denver Dumb Friends League as it looked in 1973.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rohde,\u00a0 among the last presidents of a major humane society to work his way up from animal care technician,\u00a0 joined the Dumb Friends League at age 23 in 1973,\u00a0 along with his wife Jann,\u00a0 two years younger.<\/p>\n Making the most of the Denver Dumb Friends League name recognition,\u00a0 Rohde famously introduced himself to people as \u201cYour new Dumb Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n (See Retired: Bob Rohde personified \u201cyour Dumb Friends\u201d for 45 years<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Humane Colorado,\u00a0 which also owns the name Humane Society of Denver, Inc.,\u00a0 was incorporated on September 8, 1910.<\/p>\n Founder Jean Gower meant for the organization to emulate Our Dumb Friends League,\u00a0 of London,\u00a0 England,\u00a0 founded in 1897,\u00a0 at a time when the word \u201cdumb\u201d indicated only that animals cannot speak for themselves.<\/p>\n Nanditha & Chinny Krishna.<\/strong><\/em> Initially engaged chiefly in horse protection,\u00a0 Our Dumb Friends League opened an animal hospital in the Victoria district of London in 1906,\u00a0 and in 1912 initiated a subsidiary,\u00a0 The Blue Cross Fund,\u00a0 to help horses during the Balkan War of 1912-1913,\u00a0 a preliminary to World War I (1914-1918.)<\/p>\n By the end of World War I,\u00a0 the Blue Cross Fund had become known as just the Blue Cross,\u00a0 and had subsumed Our Dumb Friends League,\u00a0 though the \u201cDumb Friends\u201d name was also still used as late as 1955.<\/p>\n The Blue Cross continues as a leading British veterinary charity,\u00a0 having inspired emulation by the Blue Cross of India,\u00a0 founded in 1959,\u00a0 headed since 1964 by Chinny Krishna,\u00a0 and the Blue Cross of Hyderabad,\u00a0 also in India,\u00a0 founded by actress Amala Akkineni.<\/p>\n Google Ngram Viewer charts track recognition factors for four animal advocacy organizations before & after name changes.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n Humane history is filled with examples of both successful institutional name changes and examples of dismal failure.<\/p>\n The transition of the National Humane Society into the Humane Society of the U.S. was conspicuously successful.<\/p>\n Helen Jones,\u00a0 at age 29 in 1954 the youngest cofounder of the Humane Society of the U.S.,\u00a0 three years later formed the more militant National Catholic Society for Animal Welfare.<\/p>\n Jones on July 10,\u00a0 1966 led the first-ever protest for animals outside the White House,\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Helen Jones organized this July 10, 1966 demonstration outside the White House.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the National Catholic Society for Animal Welfare name did not catch on.<\/p>\n Finally,\u00a0 in 1977,\u00a0 Jones renamed her organization the International Society for Animal Rights,\u00a0 more-or-less stealing the name from Animal Rights International,\u00a0 formed by Henry Spira one year earlier.<\/p>\n The International Society for Animal Rights,\u00a0 perhaps better known as ISAR,\u00a0 became a $450,000-a-year organization before Jones ran into trouble for alleged animal hoarding,\u00a0 and was forced out of the presidency by two ISAR board members,\u00a0 Susan Dapsis and attorney Henry Mark Holzer,\u00a0 in 1995.\u00a0 Jones died in 1998.<\/p>\n ISAR,\u00a0 apparently surviving on name recognition alone, \u00a0in 2023 attracted $152,355 in donations,\u00a0 paying Dapsis total compensation of $145,760 plus $11,400 in office rent,\u00a0 paying Holzer $48,000.<\/p>\n March for the Animals, 1990.<\/strong><\/em> Trans-Species Unlimited<\/strong>,\u00a0 better known as TSU,\u00a0 was founded in Pennsylvania in 1981 by George Cave and Dana Stuchell,\u00a0 at about the same time that Ingrid Newkirk formed People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA].<\/p>\n Trans-Species Unlimited<\/strong>,\u00a0 despite a name not producing instant recognition of what it meant,\u00a0 become an early rival to PETA for prominence within the animal rights movement,\u00a0 but faded after heavily backing the 1990 \u201cMarch for the Animals\u201d in Washington D.C.,\u00a0 which attracted about 20,000 participants after advertising that it would attract 100,000.<\/p>\n Raising $397,018 in 1990,\u00a0 well below expectations,\u00a0 Trans-Species Unlimited<\/strong> changed names to Animal Rights Mobilization <\/strong>in 1991 and raised just $96,328.<\/p>\n Animal Rights Mobilization <\/strong>subsequently split into two organizations, \u00a0one headed by Kay Sievers in Chicago,\u00a0 which continued to use the Animal Rights Mobilization <\/strong>name,\u00a0 and the other,\u00a0 headed by Robin Duxbury in Denver,\u00a0 retitled Project Equus<\/strong>.\u00a0 Both faded from view in the first decade of the 21st century.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The National Canine Defence League<\/strong>,\u00a0 of England,\u00a0 began on February 12,\u00a0 1891,\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Among the group was also Ernest Bell,\u00a0 a vegetarian since 1874,\u00a0 who later in 1891 founded the London Vegetarian Society<\/strong>,\u00a0 and in 1914 formed the Performing & Captive Animals Defence League<\/strong>\u00a0with longtime colleague Jessie Wade.<\/p>\n The National Canine Defence League<\/strong> eventually eradicated rabies from England,\u00a0 Scotland,\u00a0 and Wales through vaccinations provided by a string of nonprofit veterinary clinics.<\/p>\n Clarissa Baldwin.<\/strong><\/em> But despite campaign success,\u00a0 the National Canine Defence League<\/strong> was nearly bankrupt when Clarissa Baldwin,\u00a0 a 24-year-old former fashion model,\u00a0 was hired in 1974 as head of public relations.\u00a0 Baldwin in 1986 inherited the presidency of the National Canine Defence League<\/strong> after a major management scandal,\u00a0 she told ANIMALS 24-7 <\/strong>two decades later,\u00a0 because \u201cThere was no one else left in the office.\u201d<\/p>\n Closing the last few dilapidated National Canine Defense League<\/strong> clinics, \u00a0Baldwin replaced them with pet adoption centers\u2013\u201316 at her retirement in 2014\u00a0 21 now.<\/p>\n By 2003 Baldwin had increased National Canine Defence League <\/strong>revenues to \u00a331 million a year,\u00a0 then renamed the organization Dogs Trust <\/strong>and within a year had more than doubled income to \u00a363 million.<\/p>\n Revenue has remained in that range;\u00a0 Dogs Trust<\/strong> raised \u00a369 million in 2023.<\/p>\n Belton Mouras.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n United Animal Nations<\/strong>,\u00a0 founded in 1987 as host for the annual Summit for the Animals conference,\u00a0 refocused on disaster relief after founder Belton Mouras retired,\u00a0 then refocused again on humane education,\u00a0 and became Red Rover<\/strong> in 2011.<\/p>\n Raising $2.1 million in 2011,\u00a0 Red Rover<\/strong> raised $5.2 million in 2022.<\/p>\n (See Animal rights movement pioneer Belton Mouras, 90<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n John Walsh, from his book <\/strong><\/em>Time is Short And The Water Rises.<\/strong>\u00a0 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.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The British-based\u00a0 World Society for the Protection of Animals<\/strong> [WSPA] was formed in 1981 through the merger of the Dutch-based World Federation for the Protection of Animals<\/strong>,\u00a0 founded in 1950,\u00a0 and the International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,<\/strong>\u00a0 a Massachusetts SPCA subsidiary founded in 1959.<\/p>\n Until October 2011,\u00a0 the former WSPA boasted more than 450 \u201cmember societies\u201d in 110 nations. \u00a0On that basis,\u00a0 WSPA and the ancestral World Federation for the Protection of Animals had for 60 years purported to represent the global humane community.<\/p>\n After running into ongoing conflict with member societies over positions and policies which were increasingly at odds with those of many and perhaps most,\u00a0 WSPA cut loose the \u201cmember societies\u201d and three years later,\u00a0 in 2014,\u00a0 rebranded itself World Animal Protection.<\/p>\n The World Society for the Protection of Animals<\/strong>\u00a0raised \u00a327.8 million in 2014, \u00a0but spent \u00a328.9 million, \u00a0for a net loss of \u00a31.1 million.<\/p>\n Still losing money,\u00a0 World Animal Protection<\/strong> raised \u00a329.6 million in 2023, \u00a0but spent \u00a336 million, \u00a0for a net loss of \u00a36.4 million.<\/p>\n (See World Animal Protection bakes Mike Baker<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nWhat\u2019s in a name?\u00a0 That which we call a humane society by any other name may be more easily distinguished.\u00a0 Or not.<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cNot everyone understands\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201c\u2018Humane society\u2019 does not translate well\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe have long recognized a disconnect\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nDumb potential friends<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWhy not \u201cColorado Humane Society\u201d?<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBusted<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Denver Dumb Friends League photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe name lived on<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cYour new Dumb Friend\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe original Dumb Friends League became the Blue Cross<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWill name change help?<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFrom Catholic Society to ISAR<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Tom Regan Archive photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nFrom TSU to ARM\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFrom NCDL to Dogs Trust<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Dogs Trust photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\nFrom United Animal Nations to Red Rover<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFrom WSPA to WAP<\/h2>\n