--- description: Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle resigned Friday following allegations of sexual harassment title: Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Allegations image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte523229b7a0c5976/6988fa800a4a220c0d9d19fe/wayne-pacelle-humane-society-ceo-resignation-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [sexual harassment](/tag/sexual-harassment/) ## sexual harassment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Allegations by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 2, 2018 11:28 PM CUT  Wayne Pacelle arrives at The Humane Society of The United States' Los Angeles Benefit Gala held at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 16, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. Wayne Pacelle arrives at The Humane Society of The United States' Los Angeles Benefit Gala held at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 16, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.Michael Tran—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 2, 2018 11:28 PM CUT Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle resigned Friday following allegations of sexual harassment. Pacelle quit after the Humane Society voted Thursday to keep him in his job after an internal investigation found three complaints of sexual harassment against him. Seven board members resigned in protest after the Humane Society decided to keep Pacelle on and close the investigation, [The Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/humane-society-keeps-ceo-after-sexual-harassment-complaints-prompting-seven-board-members-to-resign/2018/02/01/781e9f9c-0769-11e8-b48c-b07fea957bd5%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.4cc5bf7615c2 "undefined"). Pacelle on Friday emailed Humane Society staff, saying he was leaving the company because “our mission depends on unity,” according to [The New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/us/humane-society-ceo-sexual-harassment-.html "undefined"). The Humane Society said it [accepted his resignation](http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press%5Freleases/2018/02/humane-society-of-the-united-states-accepts-wayne-pacelle-resignation.html?credit=web%5Fid93480558?utm%5Fsource=tw%5F020218?referrer=https://t.co/e0tGRGlJKj "undefined") and that it had named Kitty Block as acting president and CEO in a statement. Block currently serves as the president of Humane Society International, the organization’s global affiliate. > [](https://twitter.com/HumaneSociety/status/959561159237087233) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5131759/humane-society-ceo-wayne-pacelle-resigns/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5131759/humane-society-ceo-wayne-pacelle-resigns/"},"headline":"Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Allegations","datePublished":"2018-02-02T23:28:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:07:55.488Z","description":"An internal investigation found three complaints of sexual harassment","url":"https://time.com/5131759/humane-society-ceo-wayne-pacelle-resigns/","keywords":["sexual harassment","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte523229b7a0c5976/6988fa800a4a220c0d9d19fe/wayne-pacelle-humane-society-ceo-resignation-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte523229b7a0c5976/6988fa800a4a220c0d9d19fe/wayne-pacelle-humane-society-ceo-resignation-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Humane Society Of The United States' Los Angeles Benefit Gala - Arrivals","caption":"The Humane Society Of The United States' Los Angeles Benefit Gala - Arrivals","creditText":"Michael Tran—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/sexual-harassment/","name":"sexual harassment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5131759/humane-society-ceo-wayne-pacelle-resigns/","name":"Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Allegations"}}]}] ```