SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness

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Michael Latting Note electric prod in his right hand

"That was a lot easier than going to court and fighting it, which I would have won," Latting said.

Jodie Wiederkehr, outreach coordinator for Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), said the videotape her group gave Sobol showed Latting shocking bulls in a pen with a high-voltage cattle prod during a rodeo in Morris last September - a claim Latting denies.

"I do have hot shots that I do use in a legal way," but the ones he used in the video didn't have batteries in them, Latting said. "I take good care of my livestock."

Wiederkehr said representatives from SHARK filmed at least six people shocking bulls to get them to buck during the rodeo.

Latting was hired to provide animals for a rodeo Friday at the Henry County Fairgrounds. Ashlee Boers, Henry County Fair Association secretary, said the fair board was unaware of the charges before booking Latting.

Boers said the board still would have contracted Latting if members had known of the charges beforehand.

"I work with livestock all the time, and some of these (animal rights) groups really tick us farmers off," Boers said.

Wiederkehr said bulls are also forced to wear "flank straps," which cause them pain and make them buck.

Latting said the straps, which wrap around the torso of a bull, do not hurt the animals and only cause them to buck because they try to kick them off.

"SHARK doesn't believe we should be using animals for entertainment purposes," not only in rodeos but in circuses as well, Wiederkehr said. "There are plenty of circuses out there that don't use animals that are very entertaining."

SHARK was formed in 1994 by Steve Hindi, who said a rodeo is "animal abuse deceptively wrapped in God and the American flag, spiced with rodeo announcers and clowns telling off-color jokes which target women."

Latting said his company has been producing rodeos around the Midwest for 40 years and has a good reputation.

According to the company's Web site, Latting provided animals to the Illinois High School Rodeo Association's regional rodeo in Wyoming earlier this month and has more than a dozen other events scheduled beyond the Henry County Fair. Those events include two Illinois High School Rodeo Association rodeos in Sandwich and Sterling in October.

"This is not a fly-by-night operation," he said. "We're booked solid. You don't get booked solid by being inferior."

SHARK Note: Numerous additional out-of-state rodeo stock contractors were also caught during this bust. Officials decided not to chase them since they had fled the state.

Latting pleads guilty to cruelty

Kankakee Daily Journal
06/17/04

Morris - St. Anne rodeo producer Mike Latting pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty Wednesday in circuit court at Morris.

Latting was fined $300 and sentenced to six months court supervision.

Charges were brought against Latting following an incident last fall at a Morris rodeo.

Videotape evidence provided by animal rights activist Steve Hindi showed electric prods being used to agitate bulls in the chutes prior to an event.

Latting, who provided livestock for the rodeo, and fellow bull owner Juaquin Santos of Indiana were both charged in what is believed to be the first rodeo-related case of animal cruelty in Illinois.

Latting, who is principal at Donovan High School, was not available for comment today. He had denied the accusations last April but refused to comment on the case in The Journal. Santos also denied the charges.

Hindi, president of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, spurred state officials three years ago to take steps ensuring better treatment of animals at rodeo. He and others used videotapes to record alleged abuse at the National High School Finals Rodeo held July 2000 in Springfield.

Video Evidence

Michael Latting first said he didn't do it, but SHARK's video cameras don't lie. Click on these videos and watch carefully to see the evidence for yourself.

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