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| SHARK Busts the Superbowl of Rodeo -- The National Finals! |
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| We have a lot of big news to share, including a reversal of decision at the Illinois Department of Agriculture and YouTube pulling down all of our videos and closing SHARK's account. But these events are dwarfed by our biggest story:
In the most important rodeo bust ever, the corruption of the rodeo industry has now been exposed at its very highest level -- the National Finals Rodeo.
 The NFR, also dubbed the " World Series of Rodeos", is a ten day series of rodeo performances in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFR determines who is the "world champion" of each rodeo event.
This is, without a doubt, the most important rodeo expose ever, as it shows the corruption and cruelty of rodeo at the industry's biggest event with the involvement its top-level people.
What is the PRCA's Vice-Chairman, Charles Soileau, hiding in his palm at right, and why doesn't the rodeo want you to know about it?
We realize that there have been so many e-updates this year heralding unprecedented advances in exposing rodeo animal abuse, it could start to sound like a cliche. SHARK exposed many rodeos early in the season, and then scooped them by exposing the National High School Rodeo Finals, and then "legendary" rodeos such as Cheyenne, Wyoming and Pendleton, Oregon. I actually thought we had finished the rodeo season by exposing the unbelievable abuses at the National Steer Roping Finals in November.
But, the first night of the NFR SHARK's most dedicated volunteer and investigator, Mike Kobliska, identified an individual who was doing something to some of the horses. Exactly what was going on wasn't clear, but there was unquestionably something very, very wrong.
We subsequently filmed 4 more performances and found one culprit who was using a device near the horses' faces just when the bucking chute opened. We have never seen this device used before at any of the numerous rodeos SHARK has investigated, but leave it up to the Rodeo Mafia to keep finding more and more sneaky ways to torment the animals they use. At least one horse who received treatment from this device, High Life Gal, came crashing down on the arena floor and had to be stretchered out.
 The device is held in place with a flesh-colored band, so that when in place it is almost undetectable. Note that we say "almost." It appeared to be a miniature electric prodding device that fit in the palm of the hand, undetectable by most rodeo-goers. Imagine the effort it took to devise and camouflage this "tool", just so a bunch of cowboy wannabes can pretend that they are riding wild, rank horses.
Above, SHARK's cameras captured an "inside" view of the PRCA's latest hidden torture tool.
So who was the creep who would commit such a low, cowardly act against tame, domesticated horses? His name is Charles Soileau, and he is a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA).
But Mr. Soileau is not just any member -- he is the Vice-Chairman of the PRCA and the Contestant Director for the NFR! Yes, folks, the Number Two man in the world's largest rodeo association is also their National Finals' Secret Shocker! That means we have direct evidence of the PRCA rigging its own competition, as not every horse received the rodeo's dirty tool, and the more wild a contestant's horse bucks, the more points he can rack up.
It was obvious that everyone behind the chutes was in on the fix. Other people behind the chutes gave way when Soileau the Shocker showed up. The judges watched as the horses were shocked. It was the Rodeo Mafia at its lowest -- pretending to be the best of the all-American cowboys instead of the conniving cheats they really are.
So far, two television stations have run stories about the scandal, and the Associated Press picked it up too. You can see the story with photos covered by Las Vegas' Channel 8 news by clicking here.
Rest assured, our footage of this underhanded, abusive practice will soon be up on our site for everyone to see! But for now, we hope you can view the footage in Channel 8's broadcast. |
| Urgent! What we need you to do: |
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In order to keep the media covering on this story we need your help!
Please contact KLAS Channel 8 and urge them to keep covering the NFR scandal. So far, the PRCA won't answer any questions about the device. How much voltage does it put out? How do they decide which horses get it? How can they justify this in line with their "humane rules"? Of course, the PRCA is scared witless for this story to break bigger. They know it's as big to their "sport" as the steroid scandal is to baseball. We have to keep the pressure snowballing!
KLAS-TV
3228 Channel 8 Drive
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Please email:
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| PRCA Demands YouTube Pull SHARK Videos |
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You know the rodeo industry is truly scared, and that our efforts are working, when they don't want people to even see what happens at their own events.
Posting nearly 40 videos of SHARK's rodeo investigations on YouTube has been an extemely successful way for us to get the truth out, drawing over 1,000 views every day to our footage.
Too successful for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
Due to claims of "copyright infringement" from the PRCA, YouTube has taken down all of our videos and closed SHARK's account. The Rodeo Mafia clearly doesn't want anyone to see their cruelty and corruption openly exposed anymore. If they were truly concerned about their "copyrights" the PRCA could have sued SHARK years ago for our uses of rodeo footage.
Now that we have their attention, due to the attention of so many YouTube viewers, we will finally get to the bottom of this copyright smokescreen, legally, if necessary. In this very important fight for the right to expose animal abuse, we will need your support to keep up with legal costs, so please donate if at all possible.
Meanwhile, we are doing our best to get our videos back up in other venues and on TheCruelTruth.com. Stay tuned for updates on this crucial development! |
| Illinois Ag Dept Folds Under Pressure from Springfield |
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In our last update, we told you about the IDOA's plan to NOT make a bid for the National High School Rodeo Association Finals again. The city of Springfield wasn't happy with this decision and asked for a meeting with the Ag Department. SHARK wanted to have a voice at that meeting too, and many of you contacted the Department to support that request.
SHARK was denied access to that meeting. And, even though this is a department that isn't competent enough to find the identity of a person videotaped breaking humane laws in a year's time, within fifteen minutes of pleading from city officials the Illinois Ag Department reversed their decision.
You can read more about this here.
Please send comments expressing your disappointment at the Ag Department's choice of dollars over ethics to:
Chuck Hartke, Director
phone: 217-782-2172 | |
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We will do our best to keep you updated with the many exciting and ever-changing progress in our fight for animals!
Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi and Your SHARK Team
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