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Contact us SHARK Newsletter September 27, 2012 Join our Email list
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SHARK Hunts Down the Reno Rodeo Shocker
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In July, SHARK held a press conference in Reno, Nevada, and exposed the 2012 Reno Rodeo for secretly electro-shocking horses. There was massive media attention and outrage about the abuse we uncovered. One of the shockers was rodeo clown Donny Castle (watch that video HERE). SHARK went looking for Castle and found him at the Orange County Fair Rodeo in California. The stock contractor for that rodeo was the Flying U Rodeo Company and is owned by Cotton and Reno Rosser, who are the main contractors for the Reno Rodeo, meaning Castle has a working relationship with the Rossers and should have been held accountable for the acts of animal cruelty he committed in Reno.  | Reno Rosser (left) and Donny Castle at the Orange County Fair Rodeo
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Our new video on this issue shows the corruption of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), and how they and the Reno Rodeo are scapegoating a minor subcontractor for the abuse that happened, when the reality is Cotton and Reno Rosser are the ones who should be held responsible.  | |
Rodeo Clown Donny Castle Can't Hide from SHARK
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TAKE ACTION! Coca-Cola was a direct sponsor of the Reno Rodeo, where all those horses were brutally electro-shocked. You can see Coke on the rodeo sponsor page (though it says 2011 sponsors this is the active sponsor link for this year) listed as a "National Sponsor" and how the link goes right to Coke's main website. So Coke can't make any excuse that this was an independent bottler or any other such nonsense. This is Coca-Cola sponsoring animal cruelty, pure and simple.
SHARK will soon begin a new and exciting campaign against Coke, and we will have more news on that soon. For now, please write to Coca-Cola and politely ask that they follow their own policy regarding animal abuse and withdraw from supporting all rodeos.
The following emails are all associated with the leadership of Coca-Cola. You can copy and paste them all in one email:
mukent@na.ko.com, mkent@eur.ko.com, ijones@na.ko.com, kbjorhus@na.ko.com, coca-cola@computershare.com, acummings@eur.ko.com, ctuggle@na.ko.com, rcrockett@na.ko.com, gfayard@na.ko.com, kiwitt@na.ko.com, ceberly@na.ko.com, wendyclark@na.ko.com, jtripodi@na.ko.com, cocacolasupport@na.ko.com
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Jeff Hickman with the Reno Gazette-Journal created this cartoon of the Reno Rodeo and their shocking of the horses. We are very grateful to Jeff for his outstanding depiction! Jeff has provided SHARK permission to share this cartoon with all of you.
Credit: Jeff Hickman, Reno Gazette-Journal
www.HickmanToons.com
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Rodeo Horse with Broken Leg Forced to Run
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Rodeo people claim to love their animals. Watch what rodeo thugs do after a horse has his leg broken. Does this look like "love" to you?
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Rodeo Horse, Leg Broken, Forced to Run
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From an article titled: Rodeo clown was behind racist joke about Michelle Obama:
It was rodeo clown Mike Hayhurst of Barstow, not announcer Ed Kutz of Arroyo Grande, who made an offensive, racist joke about first lady Michelle Obama over the public-address system of the Creston Classic Rodeo a rodeo board member confirmed Sunday.
Hayhurst quickly deleted his personal website, but we've got a snapshot of it. Note that he is a "PRCA Rodeo Clown & Barrelman" (with a big PRCA logo to the top right) and was sponsored by Coors.
Amazingly, his apology comes off as vile as the original joke, as he seems to be apologizing to Ann Romney and doesn't mention the First Lady at all. To us, this doesn't sound like a guy who feels what he said was wrong, only that people found it offensive. And that's rodeo for you.
What's even more stunning is that this guy was the Superintendent of a Charter school! He resigned after all this came out, but that must be some school where the man running it is a racist rodeo clown!
That a rodeo clown would feel completely at ease making an offensive racist joke is no surprise for those of us at SHARK who have documented many rodeos. Rodeo clowns (along with the announcers) often make extremely sexist and crude remarks.
We can only assume that they feel that the type of person who enjoys seeing animals being tortured also enjoy making fun of women and minorities.
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During the 2012 Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo (CFD) in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Broc Cresta, a rodeo roper, was found dead. According to this story in the Wyoming/Tribune Eagle, Cresta died from "...a lethal combination of alcohol and pain pills."While rodeos try to give a squeaky clean appearance to what they do, the comments section of that story, from people living in Wyoming and who attended CFD, tells a much darker story: "It sounds good, but cowboys are some of the biggest druggies, pot smokers and other drug users out there. I have known plenty. Looks can be deceiving. They are not all angles [sic] like you think. Guess you were not at that concert when joints were being passed around huh? Plenty of drugs going around those fancy RV's and campers. Drugs at the rodeo, by cowboys, have been around a long time and will continue to be, dont hide your head in the sand."And: "Ever notice that when a rock musician OD's on drugs and alcohol the people of Cheyenne consider them to be the scum of the earth? However when a professional rodeo star does the same thing he is considered " a talented young cowboy and a fine young man". Cheyenne needs to pull its head out of the horse manure and take a deep breath of what it worships."
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New felony charges for father accused of covering up son's fatal crash
The following is from this article from the August 11, 2012 edition of the Denver Post: Tristan Martin, 16, and his father, Michel Martin, 37, of Sulphur, La., were on their way to Rock Springs, Wyo., on July 14 to compete in the National High School Finals Rodeo.
Investigators have said the Martins' 2003 Volvo tractor truck was pulling a horse trailer when it drifted off the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 at 6:28 a.m., hitting and killing Shun Jones, 48, of Carrollton, Texas, and her cousin Amanda Omo-Iyamu, 38, of Balch Springs, Texas.
The Colorado State Patrol alleges the Martins finally pulled over about a half mile after hitting the women, and someone picked up the 16-year-old and took him away before state troopers arrived.
Showing the same lack of ethics, whether it relates to humans or animals, rodeo people following the same routine - injure or kill, run and hide.
Five enter guilty pleas in rhino horn trafficking
From the Star-Telegram, Sept. 14, 2012: Five people, including a former rodeo cowboy from Hico, have pleaded guilty to federal charges of trafficking in black rhinoceros horns for the illicit Asian folk-medicine market, a U.S. attorney in Los Angeles said Friday.
"I wanted to make money like everyone else, but if I knew then what I know now, I'd never get into it," said ex-PRCA steer wrestler Wade Steffen.
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Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi and Your SHARK Team
"Kindness and compassion towards all living beings is a mark of a civilized society. Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and cock fighting, bullfighting and rodeos are all cut from the same fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves." - Cesar Chavez, civil rights and labor leader, founder of the United Farm Workers
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