To: Rep. McKell, M.,
Subject: HORSE ABUSE IN UTAH - LEGISLATION NEEDED
Date: 2014-01-20T20:37:27Z
Body:
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HORSE ABUSE IN UTAH - LEGISLATION NEEDED----- Original Message -----
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Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:26:08 -0800Subject:
HORSE ABUSE IN UTAH - LEGISLATION NEEDEDJanuary 20, 2014
TO: UTAH STATE LEGISLATURE
FROM: ERIC MILLS, COORDINATOR, ACTION FOR ANIMALS
RE: HORSE ABUSE - NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Dear Sirs/Madams:
Please excuse this plea from out of state, but animal cruelty know no boundaries.
You likely saw the enclosed 1/17 article and short video in the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE regarding the abuses at a recent "horse roping" competition held at the Box Elder County Fairgrounds. A similar article appeared in the 1/15 issue of the Ogden TIMES-STANDARD. And see the many comments. The video has sparked outrage from horse lovers in Utah and around the country, and rightly so. Reportedly, some of these yearlings were roped and felled multiple times that day. Some were injured, all were stressed and fearful. Not acceptable!
A dozen states have banned "horse tripping." Only last year Oregon outlawed both "horse tripping" and "big loop roping," both of which involve roping horses by the legs. BE AWARE THAT THE MEXICAN-STYLE RODEO CALLED "CHARREADA" IS ALSO PRACTICED IN UTAH, generally out of the public eye. Charreada features three events in which horses are roped by the legs, either front ("manganas"), or rear ("piales"), which some veterinarians say is even more dangerous for the horses than the two "manganas" events.
LEGISLATION IS IN ORDER TO BAN ALL THESE ABUSES. As sponsor of the 1993 California bill to ban "horse tripping" (the nation's first), I have some familiarity with these issues. A dozen states have since banned intentional "horse tripping," including Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. OF THESE, ONLY NEBRASKA (2009) GOT THE LANGUAGE RIGHT, SPECIFICALLY BANNING ROPING OR LASSOING HORSES BY THE LEGS. This language makes moot any argument about "intentional" or "accidental" felling of the horses. Utah should follow suit. (NOTE: The California legislation passed almost unanimously. It had the support of the State Horsemen's Association, the Deputy Sheriffs, the California Veterinary Medical Association, Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers, the majority of the Latino Caucus, and nearly every animal welfare organization in the state.)
Note, too, that Nebraska (2009) also banned the even more brutal "steer tailing" event ("colas," or "coleadero"), in which steers may have their tails stripped to the bone ("degloved"), even torn off. And horses sometimes suffer broken legs when the steers run the wrong way. Here's hoping that the Utah Legislature will also outlaw this cruelty. Neither "horse tripping" nor "steer tailing" is a standard ranching practice anywhere in the U.S., nor is either sanctioned by any American-style rodeo associations.
Thank you for your consideration, and please contact me if I can be of any assistance on these issues.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Kind regards,
Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
P.O. Box 20184
Oakland, CA 94620
tel. 510/652-5603
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Subject:
Box Elder officials reconsider policy after Utah horse roping backlash | The Salt Lake Tribune