In the Thick of Rodeo Cruelty Season

July 19, 2007

I HATE THE RODEO! In This Issue Refusal to Prosecute in NHSFR Abuses SHARK takes over investigation Illinois' cesspool of corruption Def Leppard's silence signals hypocrisy Cheyenne Rodeo folds to videocam demands Efforts for change in Texas Ohio Deer Killer vs. SHARK moves to federal court Why SHARK won't lower our ethics or cause WE NEED YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! Quick Links TheCruelTruth.comRodeoCruelty.comSupport SHARK!More About SHARK Join Our e-List Dear Friends, It's been longer than usual since our last update because the SHARK Team has been extremely busy working

on our major July offensives. When we are stretched this thin we hope you'll understand that we sometimes have to choose between keeping our supporters informed and keeping the animal abusers on the run. We have made some important steps this month in our efforts to halt the abuse and corruption surrounding the National High School Finals Rodeo and the infamously brutal Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. Now, our investigative teams are hitting the road to document both of these week-long rodeos, which begin at the end of this week. SHARK's video and photo evidence

is the primary key to holding these rodeo animal abusers accountable for the cruelty, injuries, deaths, and criminal acts that are part and parcel of the rodeo world. Corruption runs deep and wide in Springfield, Illinois The enormity of corruption in Illinois government and especially in the capital of Springfield became clear when the Sangamon County State's Attorney recently announced that there would be no charges filed against rodeo animal abusers for stabbing, shocking and otherwise abusing rodeo animals during the 2006 finals. Please read the newspaper article about this HERE. The refusal to prosecute comes in spite of extensive videotape and still picture documentation shot by SHARK investigators. The reason given by State's Attorney John Schmidt is that the Illinois Department of Agriculture had failed to identify any of the individuals caught on tape committing abuse.It would be

easy to characterize those involved in the Department of Agriculture's phony "investigation" as inept, but that is not the case. The Department personnel involved in the "investigation" are the same people who go around the state instructing approved humane investigators how to conduct proper investigations. These people go on at length about the need to have everything in order, and this most certainly and especially includes the identities of the suspects. What is happening here is an intentional and deliberate attempt to obstruct efforts to bring animal abusers to justice. Let's remember that this "investigation" occurred only as a result of intense public and media pressure. The Department originally denied SHARK's claims of abuse, even after the video documentation had been on the Internet for

weeks. The "investigation" was merely a ploy by the Department to take pressure off, and to allow time to go by until the statute of limitations expired on the filling of criminal charges.Illinois Department of Agriculture personnel appear to be involved in nothing less than willful and intentional collusion and conspiracy. The Department has from the beginning worked with rodeo people to first ignore illegal animal abuse, then deny it, and now cover it up and obstruct efforts to bring the guilty to justice. Go to IllnoisCorruption.com to view videos, photos, and all the evidence of corruption surrounding the NHSFR and the Illinois Ag. Department. SHARK takes over investigation of

2006 NHSFR State's Attorney Schmidt has publicly stated that if the abusers at the high school finals are identified, he will consider prosecuting. Thanks to the corruption of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Schmidt simply has no one to charge. If the corrupt

bureaucrats at the Ag. Dept. thought their little ploy would end the controversy, they have already learned that they are wrong. SHARK has already begun its own investigation to identify the suspects involved in the 2006 rodeo abuses. SHARK has requested the names of people carrying credentials to be in the rodeo arena, since our pictures showed that the suspects all carried such credentials. Do you know who this man is? At left, a "suspect" that the IL Ag. Dept. failed to identify, illegally stabs a bull with a wire device made from a coat hanger.Watch our video launching the search for the abusers' identity here! Predictably, the Ag. bureaucrats are obstructing SHARK's efforts by refusing to turn over the information. In response, SHARK is filing a complaint with the Illinois Inspector General, an agency that investigates misdeeds of government bureaucracies. We want the Inspector General to investigate all aspects of the Department's refusal to enforce the law during the 2006 finals, the Department's subsequent denial that abuses took

place, their bogus investigation, and now their refusal to turn over information required for SHARK's investigation. SHARK has also filed a Freedom of Information request to force the Ag. Dept. to comply, but there is no assurance that the Ag. Dept. won't simply ignore the law.Johnson and Jordan Rodeo, the company that produced the rodeo, is also obstructing SHARK's investigation by refusing to respond to requests for identities. J & J also produced the Illinois State Fair rodeo, during which a horse was brutalized for not wanting to buck amongst other abuses. See SHARK's video of this abuse HERE. Calls from SHARK President and Illinois Approved Humane Investigator Steve Hindi have not been returned by Josh Jordan, part-owner of Johnson and Jordan.In response, SHARK has posted multiple videos exposing different aspects of the abuses at the 2006 NHSRA Finals. See our videos on YouTube.com and on IllinoisCorruption.com's video page. On the videos we will ask for people to come forward with the identities of those accused of abuse. This will make it clear that those individuals, Johnson and Jordan rodeo company, and the National High School Rodeo

Association are all involved in criminal animal abuse that viewers will see for themselves.And just when the Illinois rodeo situation seems it can't be more corrupt or sleazy, National High School Rodeo Association Director Kent Sturman announced that the NHSRAF had conducted an internal investigation into the goings on at the 2006 finals and found that there was no wrongdoing--despite clear video and photo documetation and even the Illinois Ag Department admitting that the rodeo rules were broken. Regardless of how long or how many times we witness the moral bankruptcy of the Rodeo Mafia, we are always repulsed anew when these people defile themselves, all to cover up their continuing animal abuse. A cesspool of sleaze and corruption The Illinois Department of Agriculture is the most corrupt and incompetent department of the hopelessly corrupt and incompetent administration of embattled governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich has been overwhelmed almost from the moment he took office with charges of influence peddling, kickbacks and selling state jobs.It should come as no surprise that Blagojevich supports the rodeo coming to Illinois, and committed hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to paying off the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA). One can only imagine what portion of that money made it back into Blagojevich's pockets.We have to hand it to Blagojevich, given his corruption he picked the right person to run the Ag. Dept. Charles Hartke is a career politician/bureaucrat who plays the corruption in Illinois as well as anyone. Within the past few years, Hartke and his staff have taken numerous out of state trips to conduct

"meetings" with rodeo people, and those "meetings" have included lots of parties and banquets at taxpayers' expense. Hartke is such a rodeo kiss-up that he played rodeo announcer for part of the rodeo finals last year, where he proclaimed ad nauseum his love of rodeo. One place we have never seen Ag. Director Charles Hartke at is at any meetings or conferences held for Illinois humane investigators, even though the Department of Agriculture is charged with the enforcement of Illinois humane laws. One thing is for certain, with less than one week to go before the 2007 high school rodeo finals, it is going to be another very interesting investigative season for SHARK investigators.WHAT CAN YOU DO? We need more people to help with the investigation of the 2007 high

school rodeo finals in Springfield, Illinois. If you are in a position to assist in this effort, especially if you have experience with a video camera, please contact Janet Enoch at jenoch, or 630-557-0176. The rodeo runs from July 22-28. If Def Leppard plays Cheyenne, don't let them play us! Rock bands Def Leppard and Bon Jovi are still scheduled to perform at the Cheyenne Frontier

Days Rodeo, in spite of the outcry from compassionate fans, and voluminous amounts of rodeo cruelty documentation, including lots of SHARK's rodeo video and still picture documentation sent to both bands. Additionally, the groups were sent the 2006 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle article that exposed animal abuse at the Cheyenne rodeo. To realize the outrageous nature of Def Leppard playing at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, you really should first watch the "Def Leppard: Animal Abuse-Enablers" video we put up on YouTube.com. Thousands of people have written to both bands, and more have posted comments on chat sites dedicated to the bands. Still, not a word has come in response from either band. Frankly, these guys seem as spineless as the rodeo thugs they are scheduled to play for.If these bands play at Cheyenne it will be an admission that they just don't give a damn. In the case of Def Leppard members in particular, who claim to be vegetarians caring about animals, it will demonstrate that these guys are

hypocrites.If Def Leppard and Bon Jovi perform at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, they should never be allowed to forget the night that they betrayed the animals on a dirt arena infamous for countless animal victims of rodeo cruelty, violence, injuries and deaths.WHAT CAN YOU DO? Please continue to contact the bands directly and via their chat sites and blogs. CLICK HERE for more information about contacting Def Leppard and Bon Jovi. Cheyenne Rodeo to allow SHARK videocams! The Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo Committee, in a stunning turn, have agreed that video and still cameras may be used at the upcoming rodeo scheduled for the end of July. That might not seem like big news, as video still cameras have long been used there. However, the wording of the Cheyenne web site bans video cameras, even though video cameras have been extensively used at Cheyenne in the past, and recent wording added limited the use of still cameras. This left rodeo people open to tell SHARK investigators that their equipment wasn't allowed, even as rodeo fans continue to film at will. At right below and above, bloody horses and bloody chutes from previous years at the CFD Rodeo. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) now has to worry that SHARK investigators will show up to film the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, which includes steer busting and the wild horse race, the two most deadly events in rodeo. Learn more about these brutal events at RodeoCruelty.com. Even in Texas, one person can make change George Fox is one man in a small organization trying to make

compassionate changes in possibly the most challenging place in the US (next to Springfield, IL). When it comes to animal welfare, Texas isn't a place to be either an animal or someone working on their behalf. That's what makes George Fox so interesting.George heads a small organization called the Assisi Animal Refuge in Killeen, Texas. George has taken on rodeo in a big way in Killeen, and it was his continuing efforts that persuaded SHARK investigators to head down there for the town's annual rodeo to document abuses.Three nights of rodeo yielded all the video evidence that George needs to prove his case before the Killeen City Council. Rodeo thugs shocked calves, steers and horses. One calf was visbily injured, it is impossible to tell how many went down after leaving the arena. Animals were hit and poked with steel rods, and had their tails twisted and dragged over steel

bars. There was even an event wherein a small dog was abused by being tossed around and dropped in a box.George is going after the bad guys, and we were happy to have helped. We'll keep you informed as things develop in Killeen, and we wish George and his associates the very best success.Please watch the short video we put together of Killeen's rodeo cruelty, and be sure to forward this to any friends in Texas who can help these positive efforts in Texas. SHARK Confronts Ohio Deer Killers in Federal Appeals Court Longtime SHARK supporters will remember that in 2004 our hidden cameras caught professional deer killers wounding deer in a park system run by an organization named Metro Parks Serving Summit County. Metro Parks rangers found and confiscated some of our cameras, and subsequently deleted the recordings and even physically damaged them. SHARK sued the park system and the killing company, run by a man named Anthony DeNicola. Go to MetroParksCorruption.com and AkronDeerTorture.com to learn the whole story and see SHARK's video of the deer

killers.In June, our case went before a federal appeals court, although it may be months before we hear about the outcome. We will continue to keep you posted on this important issue. Hopefully the court will come down hard on the killers for their criminal damage to our property, and their intentional deletion of the incriminating recordings.You can also see footage that the killers did not confiscate by going to our YouTube presentation. Why SHARK won't lower our cause, our ethics or ourselves From SHARK's President and Founder, Steve Hindi: The incredible corruption on display in the case of the Illinois Department of Agriculture's collusion with the rodeo mafia is profoundly frustrating to SHARK investigators. We worked very, very hard to document the hundreds of abuses that occurred at the 2006 high school rodeo finals, and to watch Illinois government turn a blind eye to all of it is just plain wrong.Some might say that since the bad guys have no ethics, morality, compassion, sense of justice or common decency, that we are relieved of our responsibility to operate in an "above board" manner. I am here to tell you that it has never been more important to act within our ethics and morals.Throughout SHARK's history, our opposition has attempted to paint us as dangerous radicals. The rodeo mafia calls us "terrorists," when our "weapon" is a video

camera. When we fought Pepsi-Cola's sponsorship of bullfighting, the company tried to claim that I had made bomb threats against the company's shareholders meeting, when in fact they simply wanted to keep me from attending the meeting and exposing their support of extreme animal abuse. When we campaigned against the Olympic rodeo during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the FBI tried to claim that SHARK was making bomb threats against the Olympics. In advance of the 2006 high school rodeo finals in Springfield, the FBI claimed we were planning to release the animals in the rodeo. All of these claims were utterly false.Our opposition desperately wishes that the lies they tell against us were true. They want us to act criminally so bad they can taste it. Why is that? Because acting in a criminal or unethical manner would hurt our cause, and by default would help the bad guys to perpetuate

animal abuse.At an animal rights conference a year or two ago, one speaker stated that what our opposition wants most from us is that we publicly disagree and argue with each other. I countered that this was not true -- that what our opposition wants from us is that we operate outside our own ethics. If we claim to want peace and compassion for all creatures, and yet we advocate violent thug tactics, our opposition will accurately paint us as hypocrites, and our cause will be damaged, perhaps profoundly. It's as simple as that.SHARK will not give the world's animal abusers such an opportunity. We believe in the cause of compassion for all, and that means we do not lower our cause, our ethics, or ourselves. We will continue to speak truthfully, and act with dignity and responsibility. That certainly doesn't mean that we won't fight very, very hard. It simply means that as history is written, all the propaganda by the

animal abusers won't be able to cover up their crimes, corruption and cruelty, and there will be positive change for the animals. WE NEED YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!!! SHARK investigators are hitting as many rodeos as possible this year, already attending multiple events in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, with many more states to follow within the next few weeks and continuing on through the year. This requires a great deal of travel and associated expenses. We are literally wearing out video and still cameras, and filling up external computer drives loaded with video and still picture evidence. We are buying videotapes by the hundreds. Our legal fees are continuing to mount as we fight to protect deer in Ohio, use of The Tiger Truck in West Hollywood and against the false charges by a corrupt police officer in San Antonio, TX. The Tiger needs to be prepared for its fall/winter activities at the end of the rodeo season. Our efforts to raise funds for the new Tiger are slow at best. This is the most powerful push we have ever made on behalf of animals in rodeos, but it is costing money that we don't have.The good side of this story is that it our efforts are paying off for our nonhuman friends, and the rodeo mafia is under scrutiny and pressure as never before. As

was mentioned earlier, George Fox is using our video footage and still pictures in Killeen, Texas against the rodeo there. Our rodeo documentation was instrumental in stopping the rodeo from being allowed into Denmark. Tens of thousands of people from around the world have viewed our videos on YouTube and MySpace, not to mention our own web sites, and we only have a tiny number of rodeos posted so far. Government agencies are looking at rodeo animal abuse, and what needs to be done to curb it.It has taken years to build the battle to this level. With momentum on our side, we can't stop our push for change. I realize that there are many deserving causes out there, and with your support SHARK will not only trounce rodeos, but achieve success on other fronts also. Please consider supporting in the most generous way possible, so that our work may continue on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.Kindest Regards,Steve HindiSHARK Email: shindi Phone: 630-557-0176 Forward email This email was sent to kerrimilam, by afinley Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUn™ | Privacy Policy. Email Marketing by SHARK | Showing Animals Respect and Kindness | PO Box 28 | Geneva | IL | 60134 http://www.iklipz.com/MovieDetail.aspx?MovieID=b78dcab6-a408-4659-b1f4-72d1fe7cfe0c http://ourdailybread.at/jart/projects/utb/website.jart?rel=en & reserve-mode= & content-id=1130864825121. www.themeatrix.com

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