CaliforniaCorruption.com
California, "The Golden State", is considered to be a beacon of progressivism and innovation. Too bad its forward thinking, fair-minded, and generally humane inclinations don't extend to rodeo animals. When it comes to California's relationship with the Rodeo Mafia, the good old boy network is as strong as in the most unenlightened backwaters.
State law does not prohibit the use of unlined flank straps. State law does not require a vet on site at rodeo events. The only issue the state penal code takes a stand on is the use of electric shock devices used to make the animals "perform," and even then the use of such devices is prohibited only while the animals are in the holding chutes.
With only this one protection for rodeo animals, you would expect it to be taken seriously. Not so! Thanks to a strong and assertive Rodeo Mafia and corrupt, weak-willed law enforcement, even this meager protection fails the animals every time. In rodeo after rodeo animals are shocked in holding chutes with hand-held cattle prods, delivering between 5,000 and 6,000 volts of electricity. The pain and fear induced by this cruel treatment forces them to buck as wildly as possible for maximum entertainment, often to the point of injury and sometimes death.
This blatant criminal activity has been captured on videotape many times by animal advocates working undercover who have turned the evidence over to the authorities. How many convictions have resulted? Zip. Why? Law enforcement agencies across California have refused to file charges, and for absurd reasons. For instance, the Flying U Rodeo Company claims these devices -- that look like cattle prods and cause reactions like cattle prods -- really just make a little rattling sound. According to Cotton Rosser, owner of Flying U, it's this rattling sound that causes the animals to jump as though they were being shocked.
We have several questions regarding these "rattlers" for California law enforcement as well as for Cotton Rosser and the other ridiculous and brazen "godfathers" of the California Rodeo Mafia:
- If the cowboys were not engaging in illegal activity, why do they go to such lengths to hide their actions, as video documentation clearly demonstrates?
- If the device only emits a low rattling sound, how can the horses and other victims hear it over the roar of the crowd, the nonstop drone of the announcer on a huge PA system, and the general din?
- If the device only emits sounds, why is the "sound device" applied to the horses' rumps, rear legs and shoulders instead of their ears?
- If all it takes to get petrified animals to bolt from the chutes is a rattling sound, why not just use rattles instead of a supposedly modified electric prod?
One truthful police investigator actually said that while he can clearly see the animals are being shocked, he doesn't think it will hold up in court. Why not? It's called corruption, courtesy of the Rodeo Mafia. Watch the clips and judge for yourself.
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