Forget the myth of rodeos as all-American sport. Modern rodeos are cruel and deadly for animals. Traditional ranch work has been perverted into a spectacle of animal abuse disguised as "western tradition." Today's rodeos bear little resemblance to ranch work where care was taken to not injure animals. Modern rodeos are nothing more than western-themed circuses with contestants wearing John Wayne costumes and racing against the clock in a cruel spectacle for cash prizes all to sell sugar water, alcohol, and automobiles to the fans. And it's the animals who pay the price, from being electrically prodded to make horses and bulls appear wild to the countless injuries animals suffer from contestants who only care about beating the clock and winning cash before moving on to the next rodeo in the next city.
Anyone with a heart knows it's wrong to clothesline a baby animal, body slam it to the ground, tie its legs so it can’t move, and drag it by the neck. If this were done to a puppy or kitten, the offender would understandably be charged with a crime, and likely be jailed. In rodeos, however, it's called calf roping, and supporters claim it’s a sport. But the abuse of baby cows is just one of rodeo’s cruelties. Read further and watch some of SHARK's video proof from years of rodeo investigations.
Horse Dying at the Cheyenne Frontiers Day Rodeo
You can see all of SHARK's rodeo exposés on YouTube by clicking here.
Dear Friends and Supporters,
As we near the end of 2013, we want to briefly sum up what has happened over the past year, and give you an idea of what we’re planning for 2014. We have been working hard across the country on land, on the water, and in the air. While we are pleased that there have been victories, there is still a lot of change needed to make this a better world for our nonhuman friends.
Malheur County Update!
Click here to read the very latest media reports regarding the Steve Hindi's illegal traffic stop following the Big Loop Rodeo.
In 2012, we video-documented cruel acts of "horse tripping" (where rodeo riders rope horses around their legs, which brings them crashing to the ground) at the Big Loop Rodeo in Jordan Valley, Oregon. The video of this animal abuse had more than 200,000 views, and it sparked a movement in the Oregon Legislature to ban horse tripping. You can watch that video here:
Pigeon shoots are vile competitions where thousands of birds are shot, killed or suffer terrible wounds and crippling pain.
These innocent animals are neither fed nor given water for days before the shooting starts, so that they will be easier targets. Suffering from dehydration and starvation, they are then launched out of small wooden boxes and into a storm of gunfire. Wracked with pain from searing buckshot lacerations, some will twist and fall from the sky with broken wings and backs. Other will escape, though death comes slowly for these poor birds for it may take days for them to succumb to their wounds.
SHARK has waged a three-month long campaign calling for the resignation of John C. Sigler, Chairman of the Delaware Republican party, due to the horrendous acts of animal cruelty he commits when he participates in cruel, live pigeon shoots at the notorious Philadelphia Gun Club, located in Bucks County, PA.
SHARK first revealed that Sigler was a pigeon shooter in a YouTube video published on March 9, 2013. You can view that video HERE. A little more than a month later, on April 17, 2013, SHARK investigator Stu Chaifetz travelled to the Delaware State House where Sigler had just spoken at an NRA rally. Chaifetz confronted Sigler after the rally and said, "You've been asked to resign because you've committed animal cruelty at pigeon shoots."
Pigeons and tires burn after a live pigeon at the Wing Pointe canned hunt club in corrupt Berks County, Pennsylvania....
Watch the cowards involved in Pennsylvania's live pigeon shoots try to hide from SHARK's cameras!
This video documents some of the rescue efforts of SHARK following a December 5, 2010 live pigeon shoot held at Wing...
