June 21, 2004

Dear Mr. Brown:

I am writing to ask if you are aware that Michael Latting and Juaquin Santos pleaded guilty to animal abuse charges stemming from the Morris Rodeo held on 27 September of last year. More importantly, I would like to know if you plan to report this news in the column you write for Friends of Rodeo. In view of the fact that this is the first–ever conviction of its kind in your state, it’s certainly newsworthy.

In a local newspaper article (Suburban Chicago News/”Morris Rodeo Participants Criticized/10/4/2003) Latting is quoted as saying, “I don’t believe in it [hot prodding animals]. …While I’m there, everybody knows not to mess with my animals. I take care of my animals.” This is very commendable of Mr. Latting, but in the same article he says that bulls today have been bred to be docile. “You can’t make an animal buck if you don’t do something to it,” he said.

Perhaps you can answer this question for Mr. Latting: Which is it? Does he or does he not have ethical reservations about hot prodding his animals? Is he indeed opposed to shocking animals and forbids his employees to do it, as he emphatically claims in the first breath? Or does he have no ethical qualms with doing “something to it” as he states in the next?

What intrigues me especially about this case is a statement you made on this very subject in an issue of Friends of Rodeo about a year ago. You said, “Congratulations to John Growney on his win in court against the animal rights people in California. As long as we stick to what we know is right, we should always win these things.” I’m not sure what you are referring to with regard to knowing what’s right, Mr. Brown.

It’s doubtful Michael Latting has any more idea of what’s right than you do. Clearly the law disallows cruelty to animals because it is not right, yet rodeo folks, the self-proclaimed defenders of traditional American values, get caught at it all of the time.

Lies to cover up may vary. When Dave Misner of California recently got caught breaking the law, he said that the prod used to make bulls wild with pain had no batteries in it. When Cotton Rosser gets caught breaking the law, he claims that the electrical device, which is expressly forbidden in the state of California, is disabled and just makes a rattling noise. This is especially interesting considering the animals were zapped on their rumps on the occasion in question. And your friend John Growney who you congratulated for beating the rap, claimed under oath in a court of law that animals who never stalled might have stalled, so breaking the law was okay. I have to add here that Growney’s interpretation of the law he broke deserves credit for creativity!

All kidding aside, Mr. Brown, abusing animals is not right. Breaking the law is not right. Lying about it when you get caught is not right either. I welcome a written clarification from you regarding your statement above about what you know is right.

There is just one final thing I would like to mention. In that same Friends of Rodeo column quoted above, you refer to the protesters at the Wauconda Rodeo as “terrorists.” You label these people “terrorists” because they stand outside rodeos holding signs? Come on, Mr. Brown! A big tough cowboy like you shouldn’t be afraid of a few people holding signs, for crying out loud!

Sincerely,

Pat Vinet
SHARK