Inside Rodeos: The Violence of Steer Tailing

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Foreign.

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Welcome back to In Behalf of Animals. I'm Nicole Arcelo.

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In many forms of animal entertainment, the cruelty is hidden in plain sight.

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In the circus, for example, bright lights, loud music,

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and dazzling acts can distract the audience from really seeing what is

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happening to the animals. In horse racing,

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spectators often watch on screens or from

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the stands. They aren't seeing the horses up close to see the painful

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tools, the bits, tongue ties, and they aren't really paying attention

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to the whip strikes. In fact, while the fans

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are cheering the loudest, the horses are being whipped the most right

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near the finish line. Over the years,

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animal activists had made it their mission to expose these hidden cruelties,

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bringing the truth out from behind the curtain, from behind the

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scenes. We did this during protests and demos outside of venues

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which held circuses, and we do so outside of racetracks with signs and video,

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too. But there is one form of animal entertainment where

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the cruelty is simply not hidden. It's blatant cruelty

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and total domination over animals. And people continually pay

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to see it. The rodeo. Today's conversation

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shines a light on another violent rodeo practice that most

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people have never even heard of. Steer tailing.

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Our guests, Steve Hindy of Shark Showing animals

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respect and Kindness, and Jody Whedaker of Chicago alliance for Animals

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have been tirelessly documenting this brutality and leading

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the campaign to ban it in the state of Illinois.

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Today you will learn how you can help the steers,

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horses, and other animals in this cruel industry.

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And I have to say, Steve and Jodi give so much inspiration

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on a subject which seems so full of despair.

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So let's get right to it. Here's Steve and Jodi. Hi,

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Steve. Hi, Jodi. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me

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today on In Behalf of animals. Thank you. Happy to be here with you.

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Thank you so much. I've really been looking forward to talking to

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both of you and to having you really educate our listeners on so much

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of the hard work you do for animals. Steve, I would

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like you to start with talking about Shark. What you do, what it's

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about. Go ahead.

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Well, Shark is not an organization that.

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That does a lot of protests. We. We're not against protesting.

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You know, I wish there was more of them, but a protest tends

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to be here today and gone and forgotten tomorrow.

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In our experience, you know, going out

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to where there are issues,

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whether it's a rodeo, a live pigeon shoot,

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you know, cock fighting, dog fighting, some government

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animal slaughter, whatever it is,

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the best way to communicate with what's going on to the public is

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to show them so that you're not,

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you're not just throwing rhetoric or propaganda at people and you're

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showing them so that they can decide for themselves what

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is right or what's wrong. And when you do that, when you're,

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when you're, you know, giving them visual evidence of what's going on,

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then the rhetoric or propaganda from the other side is

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ineffective. Right. For instance, with the steer tailing

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that we're dealing with right now in Illinois, which I have

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come to believe is the most corrupt state in the, in the country,

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you know, you've got the other side going, oh, this is our

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tradition and we love the animals and blah, blah, blah.

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Well, we're showing that the traditional

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rules of steer tailing are not being followed, that state laws are

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being absolutely wantonly violated, and, and that

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any claim of love for animals is just completely preposterous.

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And that's, you know, the, you know, to, to be able to show it.

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And, and, you know, the only thing that we frankly warn

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people about is that once you see this stuff, you can't unsee it.

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I mean, there are scenes that happened

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four years ago in pigeon shooting. There's scenes

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that happened literally 30 plus years ago that I

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still see them. I can't unsee them. But getting the

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truth into somebody that deeply, that they took it in with their own

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eyes and their heart speaks

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out and tells them this is wrong, that's the best way for us going

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out with a sign or, you know, a slogan that everybody's reciting.

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You know, I mean, it's, that doesn't do anything for me because the person

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who, who says that it's black, the person across the

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street says that it's white, and how do you know. But if you actually look

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at it for yourself, that's the truth. So. And how,

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so how do you get. You, you get great footage.

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You're right in there for all of the, in the, these rodeo.

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And we'll get into. I want to talk more about rodeos, I think, because that's

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what we're going to talk about mostly today, but we'll definitely get into anything else

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you'd like to talk about. So I saw on your website you use

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drones to, to, to capture footage of what's happening inside of

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these rodeo facilities.

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Yeah, that's what's working very well for us. In the case of

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steer tailing also, you know, pigeon shoots,

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the cock fighting, a lot of those government kills,

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the drones have done tremendous work for us, which is why we've

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encouraged, you know, other Organizations to

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use them too. We've offered to advise them and even train people.

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Yeah. And unfortunately, I mean,

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we've got a, we're in a movement that, I mean,

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frankly, I think it's pretty much comatose.

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And it's amazing to me, especially the big groups,

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the big group, you know, that, that don't have drones.

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How can you possibly explain that? Because they have, they have proven to be just

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priceless. I mean, absolutely priceless.

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They gather the information and again, it just,

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it can't be ignored. It can't be denied. Right. I,

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I've, I was watching some of the videos on your, on your Facebook page and

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on your website, and I, I can't unsee them. You know,

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this is, these are things that I've been an animal activist for 16 years

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and I know about rodeo cruelty, but some of this I've, I've never seen.

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And you're right, you can't unsee it. And that's the best way to educate people.

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Um, so do you want to do like an overview

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kind of about the rodeo? You know, I know you're,

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you work all over the country. I don't

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know if there's any bans on rodeos in any state. How many states have rodeos?

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Maybe a little general on rodeos. And we can get right into the steer tailing

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in, in Illinois and your campaign there. Well,

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rodeos generally are found, you know, pretty much all across the country. There are

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a few places that have banned

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certain events or certain things that can go

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on in a rodeo. You know, some places have banned electric prods and

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that kind of thing. But, but generally speaking, rodeos are

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pretty much occurring across the country. And,

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and this is really, rodeo is, is just organized

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animal abuse. It just is. Right. And you know,

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on the American rodeo side, they come out and they say, oh, we've got

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over 60 humane rules and blah, blah, blah. And yet,

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you know, we, we find those rules to be broken regularly.

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And the rules mainly exist for public relations purposes.

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Let me give you a quick example. In San Diego in

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2024, a horse named Waco Kid was,

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was being abused and one thing went wrong. And the horse,

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they, they had a stupid head dress on

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the horse. It slipped out of place over his

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eyes and he panicked, he bolted and he ran

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full speed into a fence and,

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and went down immediately and would never get back up.

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They, they, they said, oh, you know, we, we have portable

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X ray machines and all this kind of stuff. We're, we have all we can

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do, everything that needs to. Well, the Portable X ray machine was

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insufficient to X ray a horse.

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And when you think about it, that's kind of crazy because horses

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and bulls, who are even bigger, are a major portion

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of all the animals in the rodeo. So they're bragging about it. We've got an

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X ray machine with us and it's incapable of doing an X ray on a

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horse or a bull. So what, what do they do when

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they're incapable of taking X rays? They put out a press release

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saying, well, we found no signs of a fracture.

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The reason they found no signs of a fracture was because they didn't

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take an X ray. And, you know, so you've

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got this kind of nonsense that you get out of the rodeo people. Just pure

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propaganda. And as we see in horse racing,

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the media allows these industries to have more

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screen time, more airtime, and the last word, activists are just

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crazy, right? And that's why we rely

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so heavily on video footage, right? Because it's hard to call us

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crazy. Like, for instance, at the last steer tailing event we were at,

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11 steers were degloved, meaning that a

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portion of their tail is literally ripped off of their, off of

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their backbone. 11 steers were degloved.

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And, you know, we've got the video footage to prove it, right?

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So, you know, if somebody wants to try and defend 11

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steers being degloved in a single day, not to mention

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all the shocking and other, and, you know, the electro shocking and other

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abuses that went on, well, then, you know, they, they, they, they'll just

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try to defend anything. But the average person, the average thinking,

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feeling person can see that this is,

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this is nonsense, right? So in

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other forms of animal entertainment or, you know, where animals are

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exploited, the public doesn't always see it, right? So the

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elephants in the circus, they, you know, people are distracted by everything else

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going on, so they're not really looking too close. We see in horse racing,

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too, there's a lot of spectators, but they're not really paying attention. You know,

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they're partying or, you know, they're not. The horses are being, you know, fanned off

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the track. But at the, at the rodeo, the cruelty is

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so blatant and people are cheering this on and people are watching

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this happen. So why is this so hard to get,

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to get through to people? Is it. I've been in rodeo protests and the people

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going in there are pretty much the worst people I've ever dealt with in my

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life. So is it the people going in? Are these.

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I know there's Traveling rodeos. I mean, if you. I'd love to talk about what

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you're doing in Illinois, the. Where you were just talking about the steer

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tailing. Is that like a, like a brick and mortar,

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a static facility? This isn't a travel rodeo. This is a

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place where people just go on a routine basis.

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Yeah. There are certain places that they've got, they've got the.

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What we call a keyhole. It's a, you know, particularly shaped

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arena. Okay. You know, and they, and they will hold these events.

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You're talking about the people who go to rodeos.

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Frankly, most of them are just morons. I mean,

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I don't know how to say it any other way. They're idiots. Because you have

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to be an idiot to sit in the stands and watch cabs

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that are just a few months old being clotheslined, body slammed.

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Right. You know, tied up, dragged by the neck. I mean, crazy stuff

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like this. Right? And then, and even worse, when an animal is

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injured and, and somebody goes, oh, that never happens.

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You know, to believe that means you're an idiot.

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What a rodeo is, it's really an,

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it's kind of an IQ test. Idiot.

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You might like the rodeo, but if you're a thinking, feeling person, you just don't.

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Right. In the case of steer tailing, it,

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which is, I have to say, far worse than American rodeos.

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You know, nobody's gone after American rodeos harder than Shark. Right?

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But we want to be accurate. And, and, and,

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and steer tailing is just much worse than American rodeo.

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And so what steer tailing really is.

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It's a corruption test, is not just a test of smarts. It's a test of

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are you corrupt or are you not? And for instance, in infamous Ogle

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County, Illinois, otherwise known as the Illinois

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Toilet, you know,

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clearly we've been, we've been exposing Ogle county for

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four years, dozens of times have we been up

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there? And, and, and every single time,

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every single steer tail event anywhere is loaded with

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state violations of the Humane Care for Animals act and

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frankly, just any semblance of common decency.

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So, yeah, really, rodeos are

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certainly a test of iq. Steer tailing is

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a test of corruption. So at this particular

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facility, I don't know what to call it, where the steer tailing is

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happening, are they doing everything there? Are they doing, like calf roping, bull riding?

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No, it's just like

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the last, last time they brought in 41 steers. And with

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those 41 steers, they will run individual animals

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over and over and over and over in Fact, Ogle county

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has the record for the most number of runs that

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we've ever seen where a single steer, and this has happened more than once,

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can be run as many as 24 times with

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the intention of knocking them down every single time. Right.

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At the last event, they brought in 41 steers and

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degloved 11 of them. That was over a quarter of the animals that

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were brought in were injured. And you don't see that

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in American rodeo. And how old are the steers that they're

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bringing in that they're running? Do we know? I'm not sure. Probably in

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the area of one or two years. Right, Right. So they're

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babies. And Nicole. Yeah. They're youngsters. Some of them are little more than

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cabs. Right. In fact, one in particular that

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is one of these scenes that you'll never, never be able to unsee.

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We. We dubbed this little guy Ferdinand.

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And he. He was just such a. Just such a youngster.

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He just had little nubbies for horns. But. But they managed to

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break one of them on the very first run out. And,

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and, and it was obvious that it was broken. There was no question it was

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hanging down. And, and it was broken and they

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ran. Little Ferdinand. I forget if it was 11 or 12 or

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13 times more. And every time, of course, that he was

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getting knocked down, that injury was being exacerbated. And,

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and, you know, by the 11th, 12th time,

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the blood was literally pouring down the side of his face so

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that nobody could pretend that they. And. But steer tailors

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just don't care. In fact, there was a guy that got up in a public

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comment one time, he thought he was helping his cause. And,

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and he said, oh, these steers are not, you know, you can't put.

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You can't put meat on him. You can't put weight on them. They're no good

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for. For that. So this is all they're good for. And you can run them

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all day long. And he's just this really. The way. That was his. His.

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The way he thought. Right. It's just nuts. And when you

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say running them, there's a.

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There's a cruel man on a horse, and that's.

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And they're, they're. They're. Walk me through what's happening.

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Sure. Real quick. If somebody wants to see for themselves,

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they can go to steartailing.com. Yes. We'll put that in the

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show notes, too, so people can access that then. Well, what you've

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got. You've got a wall. You've got a wall. A steer is

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sent out of a chute and the steer runs alongside the wall.

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The wall is on the right side of the steer. A guy on horseback

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comes riding up on the left side, reaches down and

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grabs the steer's tail and then rides his horse ahead and more

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to the left, which means that the steer gets pulled around.

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And you know, a steer runs about as well sideways or backwards as

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we do when they're going full speed. And so you've got £600,

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£650 that come crashing to the ground on their head,

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on their neck, shoulder, legs flailing.

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So tails can be literally ripped off in what's called degloving.

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Right. Horns can be broken, necks can be broken,

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shoulders, legs. It's just, in fact, when steers

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are going down, they could, the steer can, can go down so close to

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the horse that the steer falls on the horse's leg. We saw a horse have

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a leg break. I believe it was in January, in July, I'm sorry, in July

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in Ogle county, the Illinois toilet.

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And you know, it's just bad for

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everybody. Every animal involved is at risk. Right. And not

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to mention that the horses are beaten. These guys are not

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very good at what they do. And, and they take out their frustrations

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for failure on the horses. Right. Go ahead,

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Jody. I know you've, I, I, I mean, these, these men

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who participate enjoy harming the animals. There's no doubt about it.

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I mean, be the reason that they

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have to get these steers riled up to get them running out of the chute.

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These are domesticated animals. So while they're waiting to be

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run out of that door, they're being hit with poles,

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00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,700
they're poked, they're. We even have footage of a man biting a

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00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,500
steer's tail. They're electrocuted with 10,000 volts of electricity.

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So they're tormented in the chute.

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And I just wanted to say something when you, about when you

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asked about people who go to the rodeo. There are a lot of people in

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our world, I believe, that think of animals used

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for food as dumb, unfeeling animals. And so

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when they go to a rodeo, it's just a steer, it's just a bull,

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it's just a horse. They don't care about them and they don't, they probably don't

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feel a lot of pain. That's, I think, the attitude of a lot of people

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who don't see anything wrong with rodeo. Right. And scare tailing, for that

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matter. And so tell me about, about the campaign in Illinois.

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So because we're talking about this place.

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Well, the number one name

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I want people to remember when it comes to this steer tailing

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issue is J.B. pritzker. J.B.

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pritzker is the governor of Illinois. He's a Democrat.

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And J.B. pritzker wants to run for president. He probably will

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run for president the next time around. And Pritzker

305
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wants the Latino vote. And so

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he's. Now, the people that are involved in steer tailing are

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Latinos, but they are not representative of all Latinos.

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You know, for instance, you can have a Ku Klux, a Ku Klux Klan meeting.

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It's all a bunch of white guys. They do not represent all white people.

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They sure as hell don't represent me. And it's

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kind of like that with these guys. They are all Latino, but they do not

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represent the Latino population.

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But Pritzker is letting these guys

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do whatever they want because he's afraid that he'll lose Latino votes if

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he simply enforces the law. And it's important to understand,

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that's all we're asking, is that Illinois authorities enforce

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long existing law. For instance, you can't overwork

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an animal, meaning you can't run them to exhaustion, which they do in.

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In steer tailing all the time. Right. You know, you can't run

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an animal 24 times or even five

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times or three times with the intention of knocking them to

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the ground while you're shocking the daylights out of them and all that. You can't,

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you know that. That's the American rodeos, for instance. I said,

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you know, we, we don't like American rodeos at all. But American rodeos run an.

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Think about that. One time. They'll buck a horse or a bull,

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a rope a calf or wrestle down a steer. One time,

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these guys are doing it 15, 20, 24 times.

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It's right there. You've got, you know, if you're going to allow

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a few of these guys to do it, but you won't allow white people

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in a rodeo to do. Sounds like racism to me.

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And. They'Re allowing the shocking

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of animals, which isn't happening very much in American rodeos,

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largely because we were after them. We've been after them decades and

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we exposed them many times. And so now they do it much less.

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They don't have veterinarians at these events. That's something I should have mentioned a long

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time ago. They'll run these animals 15, 20,

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24 times. And then when they break, which they do,

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broken legs, broken horns, broken necks.

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Right. They have no veterinarian there. That's a violation

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of state law. So you've got violation after violation.

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You literally have hundreds of violations at every one of these events,

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and yet they will not enforce the law. That is offensive.

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As an animal protector, that's highly offensive to me.

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And it's illegal. And, you know, and just.

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And when you're doing it, you've got one set of rules for

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this group over here and a different set of rules for this group over

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here based on their skin color. I don't care who's doing what or what the

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color of who's. That's. That's racism. And he's.

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And he's doing it. So he's. He's. He's weaponized

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animal abuse. J.B. pritzker has weaponized animal abuse.

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And I know that there's a bunch of people out there going, oh, you know,

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the Democrats are, you know, they're kinder and all that. No, they're not.

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Not in Illinois, they're not. Let me tell you now,

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we're not political. I can. I can lay out

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dozens of names of Democrats and Republicans who

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have been absolutely worthless in our effort to stop, you know,

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animal abuse. But I can also lay out Republicans and Democrats who

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have helped animals. Right. You know,

359
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the state's attorney of Will County, Jim Glasko,

360
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he's a Republican. He's got a long history of helping animals.

361
00:24:08,130 --> 00:24:11,890
Jim Glasko and shark go back, literally decades,

362
00:24:13,010 --> 00:24:16,210
when he came in and helped us to stop pigeon shoots.

363
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And Rachel Ventura is a Democrat senator

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00:24:21,340 --> 00:24:24,580
in Illinois. She's put forward the bill to, you know,

365
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,780
to stop steer tailing. So you've got Republicans and Democrats

366
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,980
who care about animals, and unfortunately, a whole bunch more of them that

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00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,340
are spineless and, you know, just unwilling to do the right thing. Right. And it's

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our job to educate them. Jody, do you want to talk about how you

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had an interaction with the governor? And I saw it on a mobile billboard

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on social media this week. So when

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Governor Pritzker was announcing his third run as third

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term as governor, he was having a rally on the south side of Chicago,

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and I was trying to find out where it was going to be. And they

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don't usually announce their appearances too far in advance.

375
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:12,240
I was able to find out the day of about, you know, an hour

376
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:16,560
before it started. And I rallied a friend

377
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:21,120
and my neighbor to go with me to the south side. We went.

378
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We. What was really strange is we went into this. It was like a field

379
00:25:25,340 --> 00:25:27,840
house. We went in with a bag of signs.

380
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We didn't. The security didn't stop us or anything. We walked

381
00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:35,600
right in. It was quite surprising. But we got in and

382
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,080
I thought, let's not pull out the signs, because they're going to just kick us

383
00:25:39,580 --> 00:25:43,410
out. And I just made my. Luckily, the timing was perfect.

384
00:25:43,910 --> 00:25:47,810
It was after his speech, so he was surrounded by media and,

385
00:25:48,310 --> 00:25:51,370
you know, fans. And so I just made my way through the crowd and got

386
00:25:51,870 --> 00:25:54,490
to him, and I had my phone ready to show him the video. And we

387
00:25:54,990 --> 00:25:56,890
had been reaching out to him for about a year now at this point,

388
00:25:57,530 --> 00:25:59,770
and not getting any response. Actually,

389
00:26:01,210 --> 00:26:04,890
the people in his office were always incredibly rude, to be honest,

390
00:26:05,390 --> 00:26:07,960
especially the Chicago office. I would call and they would.

391
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,800
I'd say, I really want to talk to someone. I want a meeting. And they

392
00:26:11,300 --> 00:26:14,760
would say, yeah, we got your message. And nobody would commit to returning my

393
00:26:15,260 --> 00:26:19,000
call. So I got in his face and I said, why aren't you stopping

394
00:26:19,500 --> 00:26:22,600
this? And he said, what? And I sh. I pulled up my phone and I

395
00:26:23,100 --> 00:26:26,640
showed it to him. And you can hear him on the video. You can

396
00:26:27,140 --> 00:26:30,600
see his face. He was taken aback. And he says, I don't know about it.

397
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:34,870
And I said, you don't know about it? He said, no. And I said,

398
00:26:35,370 --> 00:26:38,470
well, it's happening almost every weekend. And I said,

399
00:26:38,970 --> 00:26:42,230
animals are being tortured. They're being mutilated. And he

400
00:26:42,730 --> 00:26:46,590
basically was trying to pawn me off onto his aide. Her name is

401
00:26:47,090 --> 00:26:50,550
Nancy, and she's the deputy director for Government

402
00:26:51,050 --> 00:26:54,630
affairs. So we exchanged numbers, and I was in touch with Nancy for weeks.

403
00:26:54,950 --> 00:26:58,550
We had multiple conversations. I sent her multiple emails

404
00:26:59,050 --> 00:27:01,520
with all the footage, and then she just stopped responding.

405
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,720
And. And then I saw him, like, a week later at the

406
00:27:06,220 --> 00:27:09,760
Chicago Gay Pride Parade, which was crazy. And he

407
00:27:10,260 --> 00:27:13,440
basically said, you know, you're. His number one stalker. Right? Right.

408
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,120
So, yeah, so he does know about it. Yeah.

409
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,560
And I mean, I wasn't sure if I believed him at the time,

410
00:27:21,060 --> 00:27:24,000
but now I clearly do not believe that he did. He did not know about

411
00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:28,080
it. Right. Everybody in our state knows about it. We. We had this

412
00:27:28,580 --> 00:27:33,020
TV truck that prowled around Springfield, Illinois, where the Capitol is,

413
00:27:33,180 --> 00:27:37,020
where first day of the veto session began

414
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,540
on Tuesday. And that truck was out there for six hours.

415
00:27:41,100 --> 00:27:44,220
So basically, anyone walking from the Capitol

416
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,180
to go have lunch or for meetings saw that truck. And we.

417
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,820
We got a couple interviews. So we're going to keep doing anything we

418
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,010
can because they're ignoring us. They're ignoring our emails. They won't return

419
00:27:56,510 --> 00:28:00,050
our calls. They say the Latino caucus doesn't support

420
00:28:00,550 --> 00:28:03,970
SB45. It doesn't matter who does or doesn't support it.

421
00:28:04,050 --> 00:28:07,530
If you watch the video, you should be offended and

422
00:28:08,030 --> 00:28:11,649
disturbed. Right. So right now, anyone who lives in

423
00:28:11,730 --> 00:28:14,610
the state of Illinois, contact your reps.

424
00:28:15,090 --> 00:28:19,250
State, your state senator, and urge them to co sponsor Senate Bill 45.

425
00:28:19,730 --> 00:28:23,440
And they should also be contacting their state representative urging

426
00:28:23,940 --> 00:28:27,680
them to introduce a house version of SB45. Right. And we'll put that

427
00:28:28,180 --> 00:28:30,120
in the show notes. We can talk a little bit more about that.

428
00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:35,640
Later. But so, so where.

429
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,920
So that's where it stands now. So what are you, what are you guys doing

430
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,880
on a daily basis? You're exposing. Are you still sending drones out?

431
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,680
Are you. Do you have anyone going on location? Are there any protests

432
00:28:48,180 --> 00:28:51,170
there? Do you keep people away from that facility?

433
00:28:52,290 --> 00:28:54,450
You know what's going on there?

434
00:28:55,330 --> 00:28:59,130
Is this happening every week? The season is

435
00:28:59,630 --> 00:29:03,330
now over. We did the last one couple

436
00:29:03,830 --> 00:29:07,330
weekends ago and now they'll probably start

437
00:29:07,830 --> 00:29:12,290
up again in March. So for shark, we now shift

438
00:29:12,790 --> 00:29:16,120
over to cockfighting. Because when their season, when the

439
00:29:16,620 --> 00:29:20,960
steer tailing season ends, cockfighting is about to begin. And then cockfighting

440
00:29:21,460 --> 00:29:25,200
will go until July. So you'll have overlap between the steer tailing and

441
00:29:25,700 --> 00:29:29,360
the cockfighting. But is that in the same area,

442
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,120
the same place, the cockfighting? No,

443
00:29:32,620 --> 00:29:35,880
cockfighting, which is illegal everywhere in the

444
00:29:36,380 --> 00:29:39,440
country. Okay, I was just about to ask that. Cockfighting will be occurring and,

445
00:29:39,940 --> 00:29:43,600
you know, all over the place. From right now. We've literally

446
00:29:44,100 --> 00:29:47,800
gone from Delaware to California. So what is your.

447
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,480
Jody, is there a session happening right now as

448
00:29:51,980 --> 00:29:55,760
a state session? They had three days.

449
00:29:56,260 --> 00:30:00,160
So today is the last day of the veto session in Springfield and then

450
00:30:00,660 --> 00:30:04,280
they're done in Springfield until January. So that's

451
00:30:04,780 --> 00:30:08,280
why we went on Tuesday, because they were arriving on Tuesday and we wanted everybody

452
00:30:08,780 --> 00:30:12,360
to see that footage. But we will continue to reach out to the senators

453
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,280
and trying to get them on board, reaching out to the Latino caucus,

454
00:30:16,780 --> 00:30:19,160
reaching out to the Democratic Caucus, the women's caucus,

455
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,560
and demanding change here.

456
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:27,480
And we're going to keep going after Governor Pritzker. We have ideas in the works

457
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,160
to target him. Because everybody needs

458
00:30:31,660 --> 00:30:35,280
to know that this governor is not

459
00:30:35,780 --> 00:30:38,240
only running for a third term, but like Steve said, he's going to be running

460
00:30:38,740 --> 00:30:42,430
for president if he cannot stop illegal animal abuse.

461
00:30:42,930 --> 00:30:47,310
That's very clear. Illinois law prohibits beating of animals, cruel treatment,

462
00:30:47,810 --> 00:30:51,110
abuse, torment, overworking, and denying veterinary care to

463
00:30:51,610 --> 00:30:55,109
animals. And that happens at every single event. If he cannot

464
00:30:55,609 --> 00:30:59,110
stop that by making one call to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, how can he

465
00:30:59,610 --> 00:31:01,230
expect to Run the country. Right.

466
00:31:02,910 --> 00:31:06,030
I want to mention that it's actually in the Humane

467
00:31:06,530 --> 00:31:10,450
Care for Animals Act. It says the Department of Agriculture

468
00:31:10,690 --> 00:31:14,530
shall administer this law. Shall administer

469
00:31:15,030 --> 00:31:18,610
this law. And so it is in the law that. That is

470
00:31:19,110 --> 00:31:20,450
the Department of Agriculture's job.

471
00:31:22,050 --> 00:31:25,650
And yet they've completely washed their hands of it officially

472
00:31:26,150 --> 00:31:29,370
on their website, they say, nope, don't call us. Just go to the

473
00:31:29,870 --> 00:31:33,450
local state's attorney. Well, that's. They're breaking the

474
00:31:33,950 --> 00:31:37,470
law. And they are controlled directly by J.B.

475
00:31:37,970 --> 00:31:41,150
pritzker. Right. Pritzker also has the attorney general.

476
00:31:41,310 --> 00:31:43,470
Pritzker has the state police.

477
00:31:46,110 --> 00:31:49,950
Pritzker has the. The legislature,

478
00:31:50,450 --> 00:31:54,270
which is controlled by Democrats. When Jody says one call

479
00:31:54,510 --> 00:31:58,510
does it all, it would. Right. And so it's

480
00:31:59,010 --> 00:32:02,930
important to reiterate the fact that the people who participate in these

481
00:32:03,250 --> 00:32:05,890
events you were talking about where they happen.

482
00:32:06,210 --> 00:32:09,570
So they happen in multiple counties in Illinois. Ogle County,

483
00:32:09,650 --> 00:32:13,330
Boone County, McHenry, DeKalb County. It's the

484
00:32:13,830 --> 00:32:17,170
same, pretty much group of men who go to each event.

485
00:32:17,330 --> 00:32:20,570
They travel around, they'll go to an event in McHenry, then they go to one

486
00:32:21,070 --> 00:32:24,850
in DeKalb. It's a small group of sadistic men who participate.

487
00:32:25,090 --> 00:32:28,380
This is not Latino culture in general. This is a

488
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:32,620
small group of men who make a lot of money off of torturing

489
00:32:32,780 --> 00:32:36,860
and crippling animals for eight to 10 hours every.

490
00:32:37,020 --> 00:32:40,900
Almost every week and multiple times a month from March till

491
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,580
October. So this is not, you know,

492
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:49,180
I have a lot of Latino friends who have submitted videos saying,

493
00:32:49,340 --> 00:32:52,900
yeah, I, you know, saying their heritage or they were born in Mexico

494
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,330
or wherever, and they condemn this violence.

495
00:32:56,530 --> 00:33:00,170
So this is, you know, like Steve said, this is not culture.

496
00:33:00,670 --> 00:33:04,050
It's torture. And. And if you are a member

497
00:33:04,550 --> 00:33:07,890
of the Latin Illinois Latino Caucus, why would you want

498
00:33:08,390 --> 00:33:12,850
to not speak out? Why would you want to associate

499
00:33:13,350 --> 00:33:17,050
with criminals? These are criminals, right? Why wouldn't you want

500
00:33:17,550 --> 00:33:21,170
to do better and evolve into 2025 and do

501
00:33:21,410 --> 00:33:23,810
better for animals and for humans and everybody?

502
00:33:24,690 --> 00:33:28,530
Well, first, let me say they can slap, like, culture and religion on

503
00:33:29,030 --> 00:33:32,050
something, and then it's supposed to be left alone, right? And that's what they.

504
00:33:32,550 --> 00:33:35,530
They. That's supposed to be that quick answer, right? Oh, it's a religious activity or

505
00:33:36,030 --> 00:33:39,570
it's a cultural activity. Um, but what. So a lot of right now

506
00:33:39,890 --> 00:33:43,010
in the country, we. Politics is huge,

507
00:33:43,510 --> 00:33:46,890
right? And people are divided and they are fighting,

508
00:33:47,390 --> 00:33:50,970
and people are losing friends over it. But the animals.

509
00:33:52,170 --> 00:33:55,370
It's our jobs, right? All three of us. And. And. And the.

510
00:33:55,870 --> 00:33:59,850
And the rest of us animal Activists trying to get people to stay involved with

511
00:34:00,350 --> 00:34:03,450
animal causes. And I think a lot of times people have thought,

512
00:34:03,950 --> 00:34:06,850
even before things got the way they are now, they thought,

513
00:34:07,350 --> 00:34:10,730
politicians don't really care. They don't care. If I call, what do

514
00:34:11,230 --> 00:34:13,210
you say to that, Jodi? Because you and I feel the same way. And I

515
00:34:13,710 --> 00:34:16,910
know Steve, and you have to, you know, go ahead. I think you and I

516
00:34:17,410 --> 00:34:21,590
have talked about this in our many conversations, and it drives me crazy.

517
00:34:22,090 --> 00:34:25,870
Yeah. I hear an animal advocate say, oh, my senator doesn't

518
00:34:26,370 --> 00:34:29,790
care. My, you know, my city council member, they. They could

519
00:34:30,290 --> 00:34:33,830
care less. And I say to them, you may be right,

520
00:34:34,070 --> 00:34:37,830
but you may be wrong. You never know until you reach out to that person.

521
00:34:37,990 --> 00:34:40,070
Right. And look, it's our job,

522
00:34:40,980 --> 00:34:44,580
we're their constituents to reach out. And I

523
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,900
say this. When I started the horse carriage campaign in Chicago, the city

524
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:53,260
council didn't give a damn about those horses. They didn't know the laws on Illinois's

525
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,380
books until we educated them about it. And you

526
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,620
flash forward from 2015, when we started to March

527
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:06,020
of 2020, when Alderman

528
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,740
Riley spoke out at the license hearing, and his speech

529
00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:14,580
was so passionate. I share it with many people because this is a

530
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,540
guy who could care less about this issue. I talked to his office, and they

531
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,580
said he's not interested in introducing legislation. And then you fast forward,

532
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,700
like I say, five years, and he is talking to the horse

533
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:31,020
carriage operators and owners, saying, we have made a good faith effort to work with

534
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:34,820
you, and you continually refuse to self regulate. And he said,

535
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,020
I grew up in the country. I grew up around horses.

536
00:35:38,980 --> 00:35:42,460
They're meant to work. That's what he said. And yet he was one

537
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,740
of our strongest supporters. So I always tell animal advocates,

538
00:35:47,300 --> 00:35:51,540
do not think that your legislators

539
00:35:52,100 --> 00:35:55,340
don't care. You have no idea until you give them a

540
00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:59,100
call, ask for a meeting, and sit down and show them the truth. Right.

541
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,750
We have, with Shark, we have so much footage. We have a wealth

542
00:36:03,250 --> 00:36:06,870
of footage. And if you, if, if these legislators

543
00:36:07,370 --> 00:36:10,590
would simply sit down with us and look at the footage, we would.

544
00:36:11,070 --> 00:36:13,950
We would change it. You know, we would get there. But a lot of them

545
00:36:14,450 --> 00:36:17,150
are unwilling to even click on that link. They're unwilling to look at.

546
00:36:18,190 --> 00:36:21,710
So what I say to animal advocates is, you have to be

547
00:36:22,210 --> 00:36:25,790
involved in the political system. You have to have your state senator,

548
00:36:25,870 --> 00:36:28,340
representative, city council member,

549
00:36:29,780 --> 00:36:32,740
county representative in your phone,

550
00:36:33,140 --> 00:36:36,980
develop a relationship with them. It's your duty

551
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,860
as a constituent, but it's also your duty for the animals.

552
00:36:40,580 --> 00:36:44,140
Well, we can't really get much done without Laws.

553
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:48,260
And I mean, look at Illinois. We have a very clear law in the books.

554
00:36:48,340 --> 00:36:51,860
And we have state's attorneys in counties saying,

555
00:36:52,590 --> 00:36:55,670
I can't do anything. I mean, we've got. The entire state

556
00:36:56,170 --> 00:36:59,350
is pointing the finger. The governor is saying he can't step on the county's

557
00:36:59,850 --> 00:37:02,990
toes. The county's saying that it's up to the

558
00:37:03,490 --> 00:37:06,550
Department of Agriculture or wishing the state would take the lead on this.

559
00:37:07,050 --> 00:37:10,630
Everybody's pointing fingers. Everybody says, we don't like it, but we

560
00:37:11,130 --> 00:37:14,030
can't stop it. And it's a bunch of bull. Right.

561
00:37:14,270 --> 00:37:17,990
You know, in a place that isn't as corrupt as

562
00:37:18,490 --> 00:37:21,820
Illinois, you would have the county board saying,

563
00:37:22,140 --> 00:37:25,300
well, we're going to see to it that something gets something, that something happens.

564
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,380
And you'd have a sheriff that would say, I'm going to do everything I can

565
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:31,380
to stop it. And you would have a state's attorney going, it's not going to

566
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,580
happen on my watch. And you'd have. And so on and so on.

567
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,540
Everybody would be stepping up to say, we're going to do our part

568
00:37:38,620 --> 00:37:42,380
in Illinois the way it is right now under J.B. pritzker.

569
00:37:42,540 --> 00:37:45,940
Everybody is, oh, not my job. It's that guy's job over there or that guy's

570
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:50,040
job over there. So you just got this, you know, this circle

571
00:37:50,540 --> 00:37:53,960
finger pointing of everybody because nobody wants to do

572
00:37:54,460 --> 00:37:57,920
anything in a. In a good place, you know, a place where

573
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:01,880
the people's and animals interests are being protected

574
00:38:02,380 --> 00:38:06,160
with proper government. Everybody's stepping up to do something. So it's

575
00:38:06,660 --> 00:38:08,800
just. It's so. It's like being in the Twilight Zone.

576
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,680
Yeah. And then. And then you've got the media who refuses to cover

577
00:38:13,180 --> 00:38:18,080
it. You know, we. I put out press releases all the time after

578
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,440
an event like October 18th, when 11 steers got to glove.

579
00:38:21,940 --> 00:38:24,480
I put out, you know, a press release in April.

580
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,240
A horse. At one event, one of the first of the season,

581
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,280
a horse and two steers had their legs broken. Three animals had

582
00:38:32,780 --> 00:38:36,680
legs broken in one day. No veterinary care. Animals were put in trailers without proper

583
00:38:37,180 --> 00:38:40,040
restraints. I put out press releases. Nobody cares.

584
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,720
Right. Yet I'll get a call about, you know, a wild

585
00:38:44,220 --> 00:38:48,160
animal running down the street. And that's news. Right. But nobody will

586
00:38:48,660 --> 00:38:51,320
cover this. And it's making me absolutely crazy.

587
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,920
It's important to point out why that's happening. We know why it's happening.

588
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:01,400
Pritzker, J.B. pritzker and his administration,

589
00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:05,280
they're. They're putting the hand down on anybody who

590
00:39:05,780 --> 00:39:09,270
wants to report this stuff. We had you know, we had some good reports

591
00:39:09,830 --> 00:39:12,310
when we were first starting our efforts against.

592
00:39:12,630 --> 00:39:15,830
Because of the terrible optics of what's

593
00:39:16,330 --> 00:39:19,750
going on. You know, the visuals are right there. And so there were some good

594
00:39:20,250 --> 00:39:23,990
reports in the beginning, but now the same people will tell us,

595
00:39:24,490 --> 00:39:27,510
you know, privately, they go, oh, it's political. You know,

596
00:39:27,670 --> 00:39:31,230
we can't report it. It's political. What that means is this J.B.

597
00:39:31,730 --> 00:39:35,040
pritzker, the billionaire governor, putting the arm on him

598
00:39:35,540 --> 00:39:39,760
to not report it any further. And it's. It's a. It's a horrendous

599
00:39:40,260 --> 00:39:41,440
situation. You know,

600
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,120
we. We've dealt with. We've dealt with problematic government

601
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,800
all along, almost anywhere you go. But.

602
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:56,000
But this is the worst it's ever been in Illinois. Rod Blagojevich,

603
00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,960
you know, we were able to work with his. With his bunch of. George.

604
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,160
God, I can't even think of George Ryan, former governor. One was

605
00:40:06,660 --> 00:40:10,280
a Republican, one was a Democrat. You know, initially we would get some pushback,

606
00:40:10,780 --> 00:40:13,520
but then they would learn what was going on and you could make some advances.

607
00:40:14,479 --> 00:40:17,960
Pritzker, Nothing, Nothing. And so then you end

608
00:40:18,460 --> 00:40:22,320
up with a county like Ogle county, which is just completely

609
00:40:22,820 --> 00:40:26,410
corrupt, where they can get away with it, because nobody from

610
00:40:26,910 --> 00:40:30,570
the state police, the attorney general, the governor's office department, nobody's going to step up

611
00:40:31,070 --> 00:40:34,250
and say, hey, you really ought to do something, right? And I, you know,

612
00:40:34,750 --> 00:40:37,730
I voted for Pritzker. I like Pritzker. I liked Pritzker.

613
00:40:37,890 --> 00:40:41,370
He, you know, he talks about social issues. He. He fights for the

614
00:40:41,870 --> 00:40:45,650
underdog. He, you know, cares about the environment, he cares about the

615
00:40:46,150 --> 00:40:49,730
LGBTQ community and all these social issues. And yet

616
00:40:50,230 --> 00:40:53,810
here you have an issue where the victims are getting the worst of the worst.

617
00:40:54,300 --> 00:40:57,420
I mean, they are getting the worst. The worst. The most

618
00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,100
inhumane treatment. And he won't say a word,

619
00:41:01,500 --> 00:41:05,140
right? Yeah. Don't listen to what

620
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:09,460
a politician says. Watch what the politician does. We've watched

621
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:13,540
Pritzker, and we know that all the right words are meaningless.

622
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:17,940
It's just those are just tools for. Him to get more so

623
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:21,100
people listening, could think, well, I guess this is just a lost cause.

624
00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:25,120
But so how can we motivate people to keep going on

625
00:41:25,620 --> 00:41:27,800
this issue and others, too? Last year,

626
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,720
the two biggest problem counties were Will county and Boone

627
00:41:33,220 --> 00:41:36,960
County. This year, Will county had almost no

628
00:41:37,460 --> 00:41:41,120
events at all. And Boone county went up until, I think it was April

629
00:41:41,620 --> 00:41:43,960
or May and then cut everything off.

630
00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:48,910
So the two worst counties were practically non players.

631
00:41:49,410 --> 00:41:52,830
This year. Ogle county is the problem.

632
00:41:53,550 --> 00:41:57,310
Oak county, the toilet. It's just that's where the

633
00:41:57,810 --> 00:42:01,310
problem is. And so we're going to. We're going to keep lasering in on

634
00:42:01,810 --> 00:42:05,230
Ogle county for as long as it takes. You know, if it's another year,

635
00:42:05,310 --> 00:42:09,150
if it's another decade, if it's a few decades, we just don't

636
00:42:09,650 --> 00:42:12,990
care. In fact, we, we upgraded our, Our,

637
00:42:13,150 --> 00:42:16,150
our big drones this year. Oh, nice.

638
00:42:16,230 --> 00:42:20,630
Specifically for Ogle County. Bigger, better cameras.

639
00:42:21,190 --> 00:42:24,710
They, I mean, the detail these things can bring out are just incredible.

640
00:42:24,790 --> 00:42:27,750
And we did it for Ogle County. We're in it for the long run.

641
00:42:28,250 --> 00:42:31,390
As long as they want to run, we're going to run one mile longer than

642
00:42:31,890 --> 00:42:35,110
that. Well, that's inspirational and I appreciate that because sometimes

643
00:42:35,610 --> 00:42:38,710
we, you know, we see people that, you know, they're out there,

644
00:42:39,210 --> 00:42:42,650
they're doing things from animal for animals, and they give up because they're not in.

645
00:42:43,150 --> 00:42:46,130
They don't realize the long game is what you have to be prepared for.

646
00:42:46,370 --> 00:42:50,290
These things don't happen overnight. Look at. Jody was saying, you had

647
00:42:50,610 --> 00:42:54,250
city council, you said Jody, who didn't want to talk

648
00:42:54,750 --> 00:42:57,810
about it, and then he wound up giving the most emotional,

649
00:42:58,450 --> 00:43:02,410
you know, passionate speech. And, you know, there's no carriage horses in

650
00:43:02,910 --> 00:43:06,210
Chicago. So you do have to be for listeners. You do have to be

651
00:43:06,710 --> 00:43:09,890
in it for the long haul. You have to be a relentless activist.

652
00:43:10,130 --> 00:43:13,010
Whether you're out there, you know, getting your,

653
00:43:13,330 --> 00:43:16,970
your phone in the governor's face, like Jody and,

654
00:43:17,470 --> 00:43:21,530
or, you know, flying a drone, or you

655
00:43:22,030 --> 00:43:25,610
are, whatever you're doing, if you're making calls, make those weekly calls,

656
00:43:26,110 --> 00:43:29,490
because that is a piece to the puzzle that the animals desperately need.

657
00:43:29,650 --> 00:43:33,130
And we need it, too. There's Nicole's and Patrick's and Jody's and

658
00:43:33,630 --> 00:43:36,940
Steve's. But we need all of you, too, because we need people behind

659
00:43:37,180 --> 00:43:41,180
all of us to keep making calls and to make progress.

660
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:45,420
Go ahead, Jodi. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, people should need to understand

661
00:43:45,500 --> 00:43:49,100
that when there is a steer tailing event or a cockbite or something

662
00:43:49,740 --> 00:43:53,180
horrific, that shark is going out to witness and document.

663
00:43:53,660 --> 00:43:58,100
Shark is doing the work of the local law enforcement, the local animal

664
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,860
control, and even the state's attorney, Steve, and the field

665
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:05,540
team goes out, they document these crimes all day long,

666
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:09,220
sometimes 10 hours or more. And, you know,

667
00:44:09,380 --> 00:44:13,140
they're not getting good meals. They're not, like, getting rest.

668
00:44:13,620 --> 00:44:16,020
They're out there for long, long, long days.

669
00:44:16,340 --> 00:44:19,780
Right. I'm, you know, I'm waiting by the phone to call the

670
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:24,180
sheriff's office, to call animal control, to call the media,

671
00:44:24,260 --> 00:44:27,670
to put out Press releases. So we're asking you to make

672
00:44:28,170 --> 00:44:31,390
a call to the governor, to email, to go to his social media pages

673
00:44:31,890 --> 00:44:35,230
and blast him with our videos and saying, why won't you stop this?

674
00:44:35,470 --> 00:44:38,710
So when you, you know, I'm talking to the activists

675
00:44:39,210 --> 00:44:42,550
out there, people who care about animals. You know, there are groups out

676
00:44:43,050 --> 00:44:46,510
there doing hard work, and we. We simply need you to make the calls to.

677
00:44:47,010 --> 00:44:50,150
To help us with these easy actions. Sometimes these actions can take

678
00:44:50,650 --> 00:44:53,680
one minute of your time. Right. You want to put in more time. We greatly

679
00:44:54,180 --> 00:44:58,200
appreciate it, but that's what people need to know. And again, laws do

680
00:44:58,700 --> 00:45:02,600
not happen quickly. They don't pass quickly. They don't change.

681
00:45:03,100 --> 00:45:06,120
Takes time, especially in our political climate now.

682
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:10,760
So we can't give up because, you know, the animals suffer.

683
00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:13,680
Take a break when you need to take a break, but get back and help

684
00:45:14,180 --> 00:45:17,160
the animals when you can. Yeah, take. Take the weekend. Take the. And then every

685
00:45:17,660 --> 00:45:21,240
weekday, send a letter, send an email, make a phone call, and just.

686
00:45:21,740 --> 00:45:25,040
Just keep. Keep doing it. And honestly, I think social

687
00:45:25,540 --> 00:45:29,280
media is very powerful because they can ignore our emails, they can ignore our

688
00:45:29,780 --> 00:45:33,240
phone calls and our messages, but if you go on their social media,

689
00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:36,680
they cannot delete it. They cannot block it.

690
00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,240
Twitter, and X is Twitter or X is very powerful

691
00:45:40,740 --> 00:45:44,600
because they cannot delete that. However, Ogle county is

692
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:48,370
deleting our comments. They are blocking our social media

693
00:45:48,870 --> 00:45:52,570
pages, which is illegal. Yeah. Yep. Why? How is that illegal?

694
00:45:52,890 --> 00:45:56,450
Tell me more about that, because I didn't know about that. If you have a

695
00:45:56,950 --> 00:46:01,610
social media page that you know, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, X TikTok

696
00:46:02,110 --> 00:46:05,850
that you use as an elected official in your capacity as

697
00:46:06,090 --> 00:46:10,010
governor or as State's Attorney of Ogle county, or as

698
00:46:10,510 --> 00:46:13,770
sheriff of Ogle county, you cannot block members of the public.

699
00:46:14,340 --> 00:46:18,380
Okay. You can't block their profile, and you cannot delete their comments. But that

700
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:22,500
is exactly what is what Ogle County Sheriff's office and State's Attorney Mike Rock

701
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,260
are doing. Well, that means what you're doing is working

702
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:30,100
to an extent. And that is the first step, right? It's to drive the

703
00:46:30,500 --> 00:46:34,140
crazy. What I want them to know and what actors should

704
00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:38,340
know is when that does happen, there are legal recourses.

705
00:46:38,820 --> 00:46:42,380
So State's Attorney Mike Rock, Sheriff Van Vickel,

706
00:46:42,860 --> 00:46:46,300
you're blocking us right now. You think that's the end of it, do you?

707
00:46:46,700 --> 00:46:51,260
You don't know us, do you? Right. Yet I'm being charged with

708
00:46:51,500 --> 00:46:54,460
crimes for calling the sheriff's office.

709
00:46:54,620 --> 00:46:57,900
Yet they are. They're doing things like blocking us,

710
00:46:58,460 --> 00:47:01,940
deleting our Comments. Lying to the public, lying to the

711
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:06,500
media, lying to their colleagues. In reason, Jody's calling is because they're

712
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,820
not doing their job right. Laws are being broken.

713
00:47:10,380 --> 00:47:13,780
She's calling to pass that on to them, and then

714
00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:17,980
they charge her for calling them too many times. I'm sorry, what.

715
00:47:18,380 --> 00:47:21,260
What law is it, by the way, that gives a number of how many times

716
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:24,620
is too many times to call the cops, especially when they won't do their job.

717
00:47:24,700 --> 00:47:27,900
Right. Do you want to. Do you want to talk about that more, Jody?

718
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:31,900
How did that. Yeah, I can talk a little bit. Obviously, we're still.

719
00:47:32,060 --> 00:47:35,420
Oh, right. Cases ongoing. So I can't. Or Steve can talk about it again.

720
00:47:36,970 --> 00:47:40,410
Well, basically, you know, they.

721
00:47:41,210 --> 00:47:44,370
The one day that one of the many days

722
00:47:44,870 --> 00:47:49,130
where animals were being gloved and having their tails ripped off and having limbs broken

723
00:47:49,370 --> 00:47:53,010
and being electrocuted, I was calling and demanding that

724
00:47:53,510 --> 00:47:56,970
they send officers out to the location and.

725
00:47:57,530 --> 00:48:01,570
And investigate and. And charge people with crimes

726
00:48:02,070 --> 00:48:04,970
or arrest people. And instead of taking my report,

727
00:48:05,370 --> 00:48:08,490
they put me through to a voicemail. They would say,

728
00:48:08,810 --> 00:48:12,210
is this about the rodeo? And I would say, yes. And they'd

729
00:48:12,710 --> 00:48:15,490
put me through to a voicemail and they wouldn't take my report. So,

730
00:48:15,990 --> 00:48:19,650
yep, that's what happened that day. And. And now I'm facing

731
00:48:20,150 --> 00:48:23,770
legal repercussions for. For demanding that

732
00:48:24,010 --> 00:48:27,130
sheriff. The sheriff's office do their job. Right.

733
00:48:28,250 --> 00:48:31,330
So I don't want to scare people to think that if they take action for

734
00:48:31,830 --> 00:48:35,960
animals, they're going to get arrested. So Jody's

735
00:48:36,460 --> 00:48:40,440
gonna win this case. In fact, I. I personally

736
00:48:40,940 --> 00:48:44,000
will be very surprised if they take it all the way to trial. But if

737
00:48:44,500 --> 00:48:47,680
they do, and I. I hope they do, because she's going to win. Yeah.

738
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:51,440
And then we're gonna. We're gonna, you know, beat em up with that information

739
00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:54,880
as well. But these people in Ogle County, I mean,

740
00:48:55,380 --> 00:48:58,440
it's just horrible. And it's not the citizens, it's not the taxpayers.

741
00:48:58,940 --> 00:49:02,240
The voters in Ogle County. Right. Met a number of them. They're fine people.

742
00:49:02,740 --> 00:49:06,170
They're just as fine as any. Right. Who are supposed

743
00:49:06,670 --> 00:49:10,050
to be the leaders, have led Ogle county

744
00:49:10,550 --> 00:49:14,450
into being the toilet of Illinois, where people come and take a dump on the

745
00:49:14,950 --> 00:49:18,090
law and any concept of common decency. Right.

746
00:49:19,450 --> 00:49:23,530
So this is. This is a huge, huge topic and huge

747
00:49:24,030 --> 00:49:27,610
fight that you guys are dealing with. What. Are there any.

748
00:49:28,090 --> 00:49:31,530
I know that we touched on it real quick that there are some laws,

749
00:49:32,130 --> 00:49:35,890
they're usually small municipality laws regarding rodeo

750
00:49:36,390 --> 00:49:39,650
paraphernalia. Right. Or tools. Are there any In Illinois,

751
00:49:39,810 --> 00:49:43,210
I know there's, like, Pittsburgh, I think, has something and a couple

752
00:49:43,710 --> 00:49:47,650
other McHenry county has. Passed an ordinance that

753
00:49:48,290 --> 00:49:52,450
you have to have a veterinarian on site and

754
00:49:52,950 --> 00:49:57,090
an emt, you know, emergency technician, and no

755
00:49:57,590 --> 00:50:00,680
shocking of bulls or steers.

756
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:04,840
And in fact, In American rodeo, St. Charles, Illinois has

757
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:08,240
an ordinance that you can't shock animals in rodeos

758
00:50:08,740 --> 00:50:12,920
because we expose them doing exactly that. So, yeah, there are places

759
00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:15,480
where, you know, they. They may pass something,

760
00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:21,080
and that's what we're trying to get. You know, given the dysfunctional

761
00:50:21,240 --> 00:50:24,770
Illinois legislature and an outright corrupt

762
00:50:25,270 --> 00:50:29,330
governor, we're trying to get these, you know, these various counties

763
00:50:29,490 --> 00:50:33,290
to pass ordinances. And so far, everybody's afraid of it. I think

764
00:50:33,790 --> 00:50:37,410
just because as soon as anybody even talks about doing anything,

765
00:50:38,290 --> 00:50:41,730
the bad guys who are committing the abuse will point and go,

766
00:50:42,230 --> 00:50:45,610
oh, you're racist. It has nothing to do with racism. Right. Nothing to do

767
00:50:46,110 --> 00:50:49,980
with it at all. In fact, we've invited the bad guys to come and debate

768
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:54,020
us publicly, you know, and nobody

769
00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:58,100
will do it. Nobody will do it. Not the legislators who are too afraid

770
00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:02,100
to do. It's just crazy. It's just nuts. Yeah, I've invited them on if Cage

771
00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:05,860
Wallace could talk. Yeah. Many times to come on my show.

772
00:51:06,660 --> 00:51:10,220
I sent them invites, emails, and say, you know,

773
00:51:10,720 --> 00:51:13,860
this is my show on Saturdays from 5 to 6, please call in,

774
00:51:14,260 --> 00:51:18,040
please come in person. And, you know, we even offer the steer

775
00:51:18,540 --> 00:51:22,480
tailors the same invitation. Right. If you want to defend what you do and have

776
00:51:22,980 --> 00:51:26,120
a public debate, come on my show. Right.

777
00:51:26,620 --> 00:51:30,480
Of course, we don't hear from anyone. And as they literally whip

778
00:51:30,980 --> 00:51:32,880
their horses in the face, punch them in the face,

779
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,560
constantly kick them in their sides with very sharp

780
00:51:38,060 --> 00:51:41,480
spurs, constantly rein them all day for eight hours a

781
00:51:41,980 --> 00:51:45,210
day, they're being reined with these very tight bits in their mouth,

782
00:51:45,850 --> 00:51:48,730
which are sensitive and painful. Anyway. But, Steve,

783
00:51:49,210 --> 00:51:52,770
talk about those bits you were talking about that I

784
00:51:53,270 --> 00:51:56,410
wasn't familiar with. Yeah, please. You know what a leverage bit is, right?

785
00:51:56,570 --> 00:52:00,010
Yeah. Well, there's different bits that we deal with with. With horse racing,

786
00:52:00,890 --> 00:52:03,770
but go ahead, explain for all of us. Well,

787
00:52:03,930 --> 00:52:07,250
these. These guys are using what are called leverage bits,

788
00:52:07,750 --> 00:52:11,180
meaning that a leverage bit would typically be used by somebody who's

789
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:15,860
either, you know, a small, weak person or a

790
00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:16,940
person who's very.

791
00:52:20,220 --> 00:52:24,140
They're good riders and they only need to use a little bit of

792
00:52:24,780 --> 00:52:27,420
force on the reins.

793
00:52:27,740 --> 00:52:30,860
Well, these guys are using leverage bits. They don't need them.

794
00:52:31,100 --> 00:52:34,700
They're fully grown adults and they're.

795
00:52:34,980 --> 00:52:38,500
And they're not good horsemen. So they will use

796
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:42,420
those leverage bits to, to inflict pain and injury

797
00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:45,620
or to pain on the horses to punish them when,

798
00:52:46,100 --> 00:52:50,100
when they fail because of the horseman's own lack of skill.

799
00:52:50,739 --> 00:52:54,340
So leverage bits, they, you know, you, you pull, you yank

800
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:58,300
on that bit and it, and it's just causing enormous pain on the

801
00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:02,390
animals they control, right? They use sharp spurs.

802
00:53:02,790 --> 00:53:06,550
Again, I'm not defending American rodeo, but American rodeo

803
00:53:07,050 --> 00:53:10,550
doesn't allow sharp spurs. These guys use the sharp spurs, which has

804
00:53:11,050 --> 00:53:14,390
a lot to do with how the steers tails get degloved.

805
00:53:14,890 --> 00:53:18,550
Also, we've seen them, you know, literally open up horses,

806
00:53:19,050 --> 00:53:22,430
you know, make them make horses bloody from those sharp spurs. Right hand.

807
00:53:22,930 --> 00:53:26,230
Sharp spurs will also start the cut on the horse, on the steer's tail,

808
00:53:26,490 --> 00:53:30,010
where then it will eventually literally rip right off the backbone, right?

809
00:53:30,510 --> 00:53:34,010
So you've got, you know, you've got that going on

810
00:53:34,510 --> 00:53:37,570
and then on top of that you've got, you know, the elect, the constant electric

811
00:53:38,070 --> 00:53:41,530
prodding. See, the steers that are being brought in are being

812
00:53:42,030 --> 00:53:45,130
rented. You think about what people do with rented cars,

813
00:53:45,290 --> 00:53:48,090
you know, treat them like, like garbage,

814
00:53:48,590 --> 00:53:52,210
right? These guys do the same thing with the steers. They're rented steers. That's why

815
00:53:52,710 --> 00:53:56,190
they will run them. They 15, 20, 24 times because

816
00:53:56,690 --> 00:53:58,990
they're just rented. They don't care if they live or die. And you know what?

817
00:53:59,490 --> 00:54:03,550
The guy supplying the steers, the guy named Meyer,

818
00:54:03,950 --> 00:54:05,870
Benjamin Meyer from,

819
00:54:07,150 --> 00:54:10,950
from Iowa is he doesn't care if they live or die

820
00:54:11,450 --> 00:54:14,510
either. He gets them cheap. If he rents

821
00:54:15,010 --> 00:54:18,190
them a few times and they survive that, he's made his

822
00:54:18,690 --> 00:54:21,920
money. He doesn't care if they die after that because they'll pay them a little

823
00:54:22,420 --> 00:54:26,040
extra anyway for that. And so it's, it's just a horrible,

824
00:54:26,540 --> 00:54:30,720
horrible situation. Nobody's looking out for the care of these animals. That's supposed

825
00:54:31,220 --> 00:54:34,840
to be happening at the local and state level, but it just isn't right.

826
00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:38,200
So, so you've got. So, so what's happening to. So their,

827
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:41,720
their tails are ripped off. So there's just blood and,

828
00:54:42,120 --> 00:54:45,760
and tissue and bone left. Is that right? That's what you

829
00:54:46,260 --> 00:54:49,330
got a bloody. Exactly how the steer tailing event works.

830
00:54:49,730 --> 00:54:52,890
I don't know if we even said that. I think we touched on a little

831
00:54:53,390 --> 00:54:56,930
bit, but yeah, we did. Where you know, they pull the, pull the steer around

832
00:54:57,010 --> 00:55:00,410
by grabbing the tail. And, and I've

833
00:55:00,910 --> 00:55:04,810
watched the videos, but so we could just. They wrap that tail around their

834
00:55:05,310 --> 00:55:09,490
calf and body slam. So that sharp spur is getting Cut

835
00:55:09,990 --> 00:55:13,690
is cutting the tail. And so we don't see deglovings

836
00:55:14,190 --> 00:55:17,880
early in the day. But after a steers run, you know, four,

837
00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:21,840
six, ten times, that's when they start having their tails

838
00:55:22,340 --> 00:55:25,160
to glove because that tail is getting weaker from all the cuts.

839
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:29,320
Right. What happens to the steers? I've seen some of the video

840
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:33,160
that they're putting pens after you're seeing these injuries.

841
00:55:33,660 --> 00:55:36,920
You say there's no vet, veterinarians. So I'm sure if there were,

842
00:55:37,420 --> 00:55:40,600
if there were veterinarians, like in horse racing, they would euthanize.

843
00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:44,200
So what's happening? If their legs are broken, where do they go?

844
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:47,800
You know, the first time I saw a steers leg broken was early on

845
00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:52,000
in the performance. You know, you're probably talking about one

846
00:55:52,500 --> 00:55:56,200
o' clock in the afternoon or so. Steer's leg was broken. That steer

847
00:55:56,700 --> 00:56:00,080
was in a pen with other animals until the end

848
00:56:00,580 --> 00:56:03,280
of the event. And then he was forced to hobble on three legs back to

849
00:56:03,780 --> 00:56:07,280
the trailer. That would take him to Iowa, which is well,

850
00:56:07,780 --> 00:56:10,980
well over 100 miles away. It's the same thing when,

851
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:15,300
when a horse's leg was broken because a steer fell on it back in July,

852
00:56:15,780 --> 00:56:19,700
they put that horse in a trailer without

853
00:56:19,940 --> 00:56:23,900
restraints, without supports and the

854
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:27,580
license on Illinois plates or on, on Iowa plates tell you where,

855
00:56:28,080 --> 00:56:30,900
what county they're from. The guy was from the Des Moines area, which is over

856
00:56:31,400 --> 00:56:34,540
250 miles away. So that horse was going

857
00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:38,460
to be on three legs with a broken leg, without the restraints or

858
00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:41,700
supports that you would need for an injured animal like that. If you were going

859
00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:45,580
to transport him, which you shouldn't and nobody did anything.

860
00:56:45,740 --> 00:56:47,980
And on that particular day,

861
00:56:48,860 --> 00:56:52,620
Ogle county had sent an animal control

862
00:56:52,780 --> 00:56:55,740
person out there allegedly to oversee the event.

863
00:56:56,700 --> 00:56:59,900
That person spent most of her day in

864
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:03,500
her pickup because we were watching most of

865
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:06,700
the day in the pickup. But most of the. When she did get out of

866
00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:10,540
her pickup, she got out to direct traffic for the rodeo,

867
00:57:10,700 --> 00:57:13,820
believe it or not. I mean again, we were watching, we're recording.

868
00:57:14,700 --> 00:57:18,380
She was directing traffic for people coming into the rodeo,

869
00:57:18,540 --> 00:57:21,980
not watching animals. Which is why she didn't even know that

870
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:25,500
two steers had their legs broken. And a horse also.

871
00:57:26,060 --> 00:57:29,460
And the deglovings and the horn breaks and everything else that was

872
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:33,820
going on, she had no clue. Awful. The veterinarians

873
00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:37,900
who do show up, I mean, are often worthless.

874
00:57:38,300 --> 00:57:42,220
There was one veterinarian who showed up recently to McHenry county event.

875
00:57:42,700 --> 00:57:46,380
I talked to her after the fact because we've reached out to the. When we

876
00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:50,460
find out who the veterinarian on call or on site is, if there is one,

877
00:57:50,780 --> 00:57:54,300
we will reach out and ask them, why are you partnering

878
00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:58,120
with these, you know, criminal animal abusers? And they

879
00:57:58,620 --> 00:58:02,440
usually give us an excuse. But it has worked.

880
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:06,600
Almost always. We have stopped the veterinarians from either attending

881
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:09,960
or after the event, agreeing to not

882
00:58:10,460 --> 00:58:14,240
go back. So in this one case with McHenry, the veterinarian

883
00:58:14,740 --> 00:58:18,200
literally told me that she told the applicant she was going

884
00:58:18,700 --> 00:58:22,640
to the event to care for the equines only she said, I wasn't going

885
00:58:23,140 --> 00:58:27,680
for the bovines. Right. Just the equines. Yet the bovines are

886
00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:31,400
getting the worst of it. Right. And at that

887
00:58:31,900 --> 00:58:35,360
event that this veterinarian who was only going to treat equines

888
00:58:36,320 --> 00:58:40,400
steer had his front leg broken. This was one of the hardest videos I've seen.

889
00:58:40,560 --> 00:58:44,120
Yeah, this animal had his front left leg broken and he

890
00:58:44,620 --> 00:58:47,600
could not put it down. And he just kind of seemed so confused, like,

891
00:58:48,100 --> 00:58:51,050
what is happening to my leg? And that steer was euthanized,

892
00:58:51,530 --> 00:58:55,610
but it took hours while that animal suffered with no pain relief

893
00:58:56,250 --> 00:58:59,610
and was euthanized by a vet who said she doesn't treat bovines.

894
00:59:00,970 --> 00:59:04,890
So, I mean, we can give you, I mean, just reason

895
00:59:05,049 --> 00:59:08,650
after reason about how horrific this. This activity is.

896
00:59:08,970 --> 00:59:12,530
And we also believe that the PACT

897
00:59:13,030 --> 00:59:16,610
act is being violated. These are steers being rented from Iowa. So they're going over

898
00:59:17,110 --> 00:59:21,490
state lines to suffer severe bodily

899
00:59:21,990 --> 00:59:25,410
injury, which is part of the PACT act is an

900
00:59:25,910 --> 00:59:29,370
animal suffering severe bodily injury violates a PACT Act.

901
00:59:30,170 --> 00:59:34,090
We've informed everyone about it. So what can people who are listening, who are

902
00:59:34,590 --> 00:59:37,730
outraged do today when they are finished

903
00:59:38,230 --> 00:59:40,570
driving and listening to this podcast or walking or running,

904
00:59:41,770 --> 00:59:45,250
they're horrified and outraged. What can they do right now?

905
00:59:45,650 --> 00:59:49,290
Well, I would say, please first go to steertailing.com so

906
00:59:49,790 --> 00:59:53,010
that you will know with your own eyes what's going on,

907
00:59:53,410 --> 00:59:56,530
what this is. And then,

908
00:59:57,030 --> 01:00:00,730
you know, contacting Governor Pritzker's office, I think, is the most

909
01:00:01,230 --> 01:00:04,370
important thing. You know, I'm going to vote

910
01:00:04,870 --> 01:00:08,730
for people who try to do the right thing. But when it comes to

911
01:00:09,230 --> 01:00:12,480
animals, you don't play politics with animals. Right,

912
01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:17,560
Jody? I would urge people, if they are on social media,

913
01:00:18,060 --> 01:00:21,480
on Facebook, Twitter, x Instagram, to go to his

914
01:00:21,980 --> 01:00:25,480
social media, share some of Shark's videos. We have a ton of videos

915
01:00:25,980 --> 01:00:29,720
on YouTube. We have made specific reels specifically for

916
01:00:30,220 --> 01:00:33,720
Governor Pritzker. But if you're not on social media, if you could call

917
01:00:34,220 --> 01:00:36,560
him, I can give you a couple phone numbers, if you like. And his Email.

918
01:00:37,290 --> 01:00:40,370
Yeah, yeah, you can say them now, and then I'll also

919
01:00:40,870 --> 01:00:42,730
put them in the show notes if you want to read them off right now.

920
01:00:43,050 --> 01:00:50,330
Great. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Phone number 312-814-2121

921
01:00:50,970 --> 01:00:56,330
or 217-782-6830.

922
01:00:57,610 --> 01:01:03,810
Email gov crmasinmarryllinois,

923
01:01:04,310 --> 01:01:09,190
g.gov or governorllinois.gov

924
01:01:09,910 --> 01:01:13,030
and they can always reach out to Shark for that information as well.

925
01:01:13,510 --> 01:01:17,750
Do a quick search on Shark's Facebook page for Pritzker and

926
01:01:18,250 --> 01:01:21,150
they'll find all his contact information. Great. And we'll definitely.

927
01:01:21,650 --> 01:01:24,310
Jodi will send me all of that information and we'll put it in the show

928
01:01:24,810 --> 01:01:28,230
notes so you can just quickly access it there. Copy and paste.

929
01:01:29,350 --> 01:01:32,790
Thank you so much for talking about this. It's a huge

930
01:01:33,290 --> 01:01:35,890
issue. You guys are very passionate about it and it's.

931
01:01:36,050 --> 01:01:39,610
There's something that needs to be done, and I really want hope that people really

932
01:01:40,110 --> 01:01:43,890
get involved with this and, and really take action. I took some actions before

933
01:01:43,970 --> 01:01:47,450
our call today because I wanted to get in there and look

934
01:01:47,950 --> 01:01:50,250
at everything and took some actions. And I'll be sure to go back and make

935
01:01:50,750 --> 01:01:54,650
sure I'm taking actions daily, even though I live in New York. But it's

936
01:01:55,150 --> 01:01:58,770
important and also for people. I do think, I believe in snail mail,

937
01:01:59,270 --> 01:02:03,150
too, because they do have to open all the, open those letters and cards and

938
01:02:03,650 --> 01:02:07,070
you can, you know, print photos of what's happening

939
01:02:07,570 --> 01:02:11,190
to these animals and put that in a letter that goes to the governor's office,

940
01:02:11,690 --> 01:02:15,670
too. That's something I, I like to do. And sometimes we'll have little groups writing

941
01:02:16,170 --> 01:02:19,710
notes. Our governor in New York is propping up horse racing

942
01:02:20,210 --> 01:02:24,230
in a disgusting manner. So we're, we're after her as well. And she's

943
01:02:24,730 --> 01:02:28,040
a Democratic governor, too, so, yeah, it doesn't matter.

944
01:02:29,320 --> 01:02:32,600
Jody, I definitely want to have you back to talk about caa,

945
01:02:33,100 --> 01:02:35,480
but if you want to do some today or whatever you're about to say,

946
01:02:35,980 --> 01:02:40,640
you can go ahead. I just wanted to also remind Illinois residents it's

947
01:02:41,140 --> 01:02:44,760
really critical that you contact your Illinois state senator and urge

948
01:02:45,260 --> 01:02:48,680
them to co sponsor SB45. And don't take no for an answer.

949
01:02:49,080 --> 01:02:52,520
You know, my own senator was not returning my

950
01:02:53,020 --> 01:02:59,150
calls or my emails, and I had been calling since January,

951
01:02:59,470 --> 01:03:02,750
I think, when the bill was introduced. The bill was introduced this

952
01:03:03,250 --> 01:03:06,710
January, and I had been calling him weekly and emailing. I sent him

953
01:03:07,210 --> 01:03:10,310
very detailed emails with the footage. And my state

954
01:03:10,810 --> 01:03:13,550
senator is very progressive on all social issues,

955
01:03:14,030 --> 01:03:18,430
and I was getting very mad and Basically, after two,

956
01:03:19,820 --> 01:03:23,180
maybe a month and a half or two months of not getting

957
01:03:23,680 --> 01:03:27,460
a response, I left a voicemail and said, you know,

958
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:31,980
this is probably the 10th phone call I've made. I've sent you multiple emails.

959
01:03:32,060 --> 01:03:35,340
I go, I'm very angry. I go, I'm your constituent.

960
01:03:35,420 --> 01:03:39,500
I want a callback. I want an answer as to why you're not signing

961
01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:42,860
on to this legislation that will end a lot of suffering.

962
01:03:43,580 --> 01:03:46,760
Within a half hour, I got a call back from his aide,

963
01:03:47,260 --> 01:03:50,280
who I'd spoken to multiple times, apologizing profusely,

964
01:03:50,520 --> 01:03:54,280
saying, I'm so sorry, we've been busy today. The senator just signed on

965
01:03:54,780 --> 01:03:58,680
as a co sponsor. And it's happened because I finally had

966
01:03:59,180 --> 01:04:02,760
enough. I got firm. I mean, I'm nice up until a point, and then I'm

967
01:04:03,260 --> 01:04:07,000
like, look, I'm your constituent. And that's what people really animal advocates

968
01:04:07,500 --> 01:04:10,080
need to know. You can be nice and you should be, and you should be

969
01:04:10,580 --> 01:04:14,790
professional, but if you're state senator, your state legislators

970
01:04:15,290 --> 01:04:18,670
are ignoring you, then you have every right to get frustrated

971
01:04:19,170 --> 01:04:22,830
and demand a meeting, demand an answer as to why they're not signing on.

972
01:04:23,470 --> 01:04:26,910
And nobody can deny this footage. Nobody can deny

973
01:04:27,410 --> 01:04:31,630
how these animals are being, are being treated and suffering. So ask

974
01:04:32,130 --> 01:04:34,910
for a meeting. You know, start with a phone call, start with an email,

975
01:04:35,230 --> 01:04:39,790
and I can send people a draft email to send their state senator

976
01:04:40,290 --> 01:04:43,670
as to why they should sign on. So I can't stress enough. We need Illinois

977
01:04:44,170 --> 01:04:47,670
residents to help us pass this bill. As Steve said, SB 45

978
01:04:48,170 --> 01:04:51,790
will not stop at all. It won't stop. It's not perfect. Right. But it's a

979
01:04:52,290 --> 01:04:56,030
step in the right direction. Right? And it takes time. But if

980
01:04:56,530 --> 01:05:00,150
I could wave a magic wand right now, I would do it to just get

981
01:05:00,650 --> 01:05:03,830
everyone to stop being thinking that

982
01:05:04,330 --> 01:05:07,990
our elected officials don't care. And I think that's what a lot of people think.

983
01:05:08,240 --> 01:05:11,880
They don't care. They're not going to change their minds. But you guys are both

984
01:05:12,380 --> 01:05:15,480
prime examples of if you keep going and pounding the

985
01:05:15,980 --> 01:05:19,240
drum and I keep going back when, if I had to describe Jody,

986
01:05:19,740 --> 01:05:22,880
relentless activism. Steve, too relentless. You just have to keep

987
01:05:23,280 --> 01:05:27,200
going. And you can't give up on these animals because if not

988
01:05:27,680 --> 01:05:30,840
you, who got it? If not now, when? You can't

989
01:05:31,340 --> 01:05:34,590
say, well, I'm busy right now, then do one thing a week. Just. The animals

990
01:05:35,090 --> 01:05:37,830
need us so bad. That's why you have a radio show, I have a podcast,

991
01:05:38,330 --> 01:05:41,270
why Shark is Flying Drones. Because we need these animals.

992
01:05:41,770 --> 01:05:45,990
Need. And especially now, I feel like the animals are getting so left behind because

993
01:05:47,510 --> 01:05:51,350
people are putting their animal protest signs down and going out and doing political

994
01:05:51,850 --> 01:05:55,350
protests. And you can do both. We were always accused as animal rights

995
01:05:55,850 --> 01:05:59,350
activists to not be doing both. And we didn't care about people. We clearly do.

996
01:06:00,320 --> 01:06:03,840
But we can't stop advocating for the animals because they need us more

997
01:06:04,340 --> 01:06:07,040
than ever. More than ever. They have it the worst. I mean,

998
01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:10,880
everything in our world is, like, on fire, I feel.

999
01:06:11,040 --> 01:06:14,080
Yeah. And it's true. But when you think about it,

1000
01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:17,840
who has it the worst? Yep. The animal. Yeah. I always

1001
01:06:18,340 --> 01:06:22,680
say, no matter how much we're being yelled at at a protest or how uncomfortable

1002
01:06:23,180 --> 01:06:27,050
you are picking up the phone to call the governor, think about what one animal

1003
01:06:27,550 --> 01:06:31,650
is going through at that moment, that same amount of time, and how much suffering

1004
01:06:32,150 --> 01:06:34,330
and pain they're going through. And you're not. You're going to go home into a

1005
01:06:34,830 --> 01:06:37,850
warm bed, you're going to eat, you're not going to feel any pain,

1006
01:06:38,170 --> 01:06:41,370
you know, and that's. And I think that's what people need to. Need to understand.

1007
01:06:42,970 --> 01:06:46,810
Well, I think, you know, the FBI, long years and years ago,

1008
01:06:46,970 --> 01:06:50,970
identified that those who harm animals are far

1009
01:06:51,470 --> 01:06:54,850
more likely to harm people. Well, I think that the opposite is also

1010
01:06:55,350 --> 01:06:59,050
true, that people who are open, who open

1011
01:06:59,550 --> 01:07:02,970
their hearts to animals, who acknowledge what they're going through

1012
01:07:03,470 --> 01:07:06,930
and give them consideration, are far more likely than

1013
01:07:07,010 --> 01:07:10,450
to be. To be considerate of

1014
01:07:10,850 --> 01:07:14,170
the needs of humans and the environment. I think

1015
01:07:14,670 --> 01:07:18,170
that when you are. When you care about animals, you are a more

1016
01:07:18,670 --> 01:07:21,280
complete human being. The people, I agree.

1017
01:07:21,600 --> 01:07:24,840
You know, the people who don't care about the animals tend to also be the

1018
01:07:25,340 --> 01:07:28,400
people who don't care about the environment and other people. Right.

1019
01:07:28,480 --> 01:07:32,080
So it really, it's kind of a full package. So when

1020
01:07:32,580 --> 01:07:35,839
the army says, be the best you can be, I say, yeah. And that includes

1021
01:07:36,339 --> 01:07:40,080
caring about the planet we live in and the animals that we share it with.

1022
01:07:40,240 --> 01:07:43,120
Right. Yeah. And look,

1023
01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:47,010
there's the vegan groups on social media. Chicago vegans is

1024
01:07:47,510 --> 01:07:51,570
one, in my opinion, one of the most frustrating social

1025
01:07:52,070 --> 01:07:55,210
media pages because the majority of the people on that page and

1026
01:07:55,710 --> 01:07:59,290
it. I don't know how many. There's gotta be like 10 or 15,000

1027
01:07:59,790 --> 01:08:03,090
members on that page. And I post my animal actions

1028
01:08:03,590 --> 01:08:06,410
on that page often, and I get no response.

1029
01:08:07,290 --> 01:08:10,850
Hardly ever a response. Right. People coming to my events or

1030
01:08:11,350 --> 01:08:15,190
making a phone call for shark, for the steers, for the horses. But if

1031
01:08:15,690 --> 01:08:19,230
someone talks about, you know, they had the worst

1032
01:08:20,190 --> 01:08:23,470
Reuben at this location, at this vegan restaurant,

1033
01:08:23,550 --> 01:08:27,550
then people Debate and they argue and they call each other names for hours.

1034
01:08:27,950 --> 01:08:31,470
I mean, and everybody's involved, but people don't take

1035
01:08:31,970 --> 01:08:35,950
action. So look, you vegans out there, it's great that you're vegan. It's very great.

1036
01:08:36,450 --> 01:08:39,590
It's important. But that's not stopping the steers and

1037
01:08:40,090 --> 01:08:44,120
horses from being mutilated. It's not stopping the horses on the racetracks from being

1038
01:08:44,620 --> 01:08:48,320
horrifically abused and sitting in cages

1039
01:08:48,820 --> 01:08:51,960
for 23 and a half hours a day. So take a little action.

1040
01:08:52,200 --> 01:08:56,000
Go eat your great vegan meals, but be an activist at

1041
01:08:56,500 --> 01:08:59,280
the same time. You don't have to go out for eight hours a day with

1042
01:08:59,780 --> 01:09:03,160
a drone or have a radio show or a podcast,

1043
01:09:03,480 --> 01:09:07,000
but make a call, contact your state legislators,

1044
01:09:08,690 --> 01:09:12,130
re, find out which issue talk speaks to you.

1045
01:09:12,530 --> 01:09:16,610
It could be animal circuses, it could be puppy mills. I mean, there's. You can't

1046
01:09:17,110 --> 01:09:19,410
do. We all can't do it all. But you can make a call. You can,

1047
01:09:20,130 --> 01:09:22,130
we can't wait for the world to be vegan. Right?

1048
01:09:22,770 --> 01:09:26,170
Vegan world is, is out of reach right now. But so

1049
01:09:26,670 --> 01:09:29,650
those single issue causes, the rodeo, cock fighting,

1050
01:09:30,610 --> 01:09:33,650
carriage horses, horse racing, whatever it may be,

1051
01:09:33,730 --> 01:09:37,380
circuses, those animals need to be spoken for.

1052
01:09:37,880 --> 01:09:41,100
Those animals need to be fought for and, you know, it makes a difference in

1053
01:09:41,600 --> 01:09:45,100
their lives. And as a vegan, we can control how

1054
01:09:45,600 --> 01:09:49,220
many animals we're not eating and, and, but it's only a finite number.

1055
01:09:49,460 --> 01:09:53,180
Right? But if we're an activist, it's an infinite number of animals that

1056
01:09:53,680 --> 01:09:57,380
we can help every single day. And you could be a vegan foodie. I am,

1057
01:09:58,100 --> 01:10:01,660
but also an activist. You know, like, I'll take pictures of food

1058
01:10:02,160 --> 01:10:05,940
and, you know, but you can do both. And that's what I

1059
01:10:06,440 --> 01:10:09,780
know. So funny, because I do it too. Because we want to prove

1060
01:10:10,280 --> 01:10:13,820
to our mediating friends and family that, like, there is

1061
01:10:14,320 --> 01:10:18,060
amazing, there are many amazing alternatives out there. But, you know,

1062
01:10:18,540 --> 01:10:22,020
there's more to, there's more to. We just have to change the

1063
01:10:22,520 --> 01:10:25,980
world and pass laws and. Right. And just eating vegan food and talking about

1064
01:10:26,480 --> 01:10:29,780
it isn't going to pass laws. Right. And we have to look outside of ourselves.

1065
01:10:30,280 --> 01:10:33,430
We can't, you know, be afraid that someone's going to say something to us that

1066
01:10:33,930 --> 01:10:36,270
we're not going to like or they're going to hurt our feelings. And it's like

1067
01:10:36,350 --> 01:10:39,710
once you start doing it and you're speaking for animals, it gets

1068
01:10:40,210 --> 01:10:42,430
easier and easier and easier. And I think a lot of people are just afraid,

1069
01:10:42,670 --> 01:10:46,350
you know, I'll, I'll Hear people say, well, oh, I have a Republican,

1070
01:10:46,750 --> 01:10:49,870
you know, state senator, and I live out in the, in the country.

1071
01:10:50,430 --> 01:10:53,630
And I'm like, so you shouldn't call them at all. You shouldn't,

1072
01:10:54,190 --> 01:10:57,480
you know, be the one voice for, for the animals.

1073
01:10:57,560 --> 01:11:00,680
Wouldn't the animals appreciate you being that one voice? So, you know,

1074
01:11:01,180 --> 01:11:04,320
it's just, it's just a way to motivate. And that's why, you know, we're out

1075
01:11:04,820 --> 01:11:07,080
here where all of us are out here doing, you know, what we do,

1076
01:11:07,580 --> 01:11:10,880
but we need everyone else to help us because. And that's why

1077
01:11:11,380 --> 01:11:15,080
we have a radio show and a podcast, and, and, and we keep.

1078
01:11:15,580 --> 01:11:18,160
Keep plugging away in YouTube and all of that to get, to get people to

1079
01:11:18,660 --> 01:11:22,600
help. Thank you so much. You, you, you both are an inspiration.

1080
01:11:23,100 --> 01:11:26,480
There was a lot of things that could be seen as negative here.

1081
01:11:26,800 --> 01:11:29,560
I feel like sometimes, you know, but we have to put that.

1082
01:11:30,060 --> 01:11:32,480
It's sad, it's hard, it's, you know, real.

1083
01:11:32,960 --> 01:11:36,760
But you both inject hope into it. This is what

1084
01:11:37,260 --> 01:11:40,039
we can do. And that we're never going to stop fighting. And I really appreciate

1085
01:11:40,539 --> 01:11:43,360
that. And you're. Because you keep going and you don't give up. By the way,

1086
01:11:43,840 --> 01:11:46,560
I wore this shirt. I don't know if you could see it. Oh, yes.

1087
01:11:46,640 --> 01:11:50,440
Well, our listeners can't see, but Jody has her shirt. Her horse racing. Wrong shirt

1088
01:11:50,940 --> 01:11:54,240
on that says you can. Go ahead, say it. What does it say?

1089
01:11:54,480 --> 01:11:57,760
You can love horses. You can love horse racing.

1090
01:11:57,920 --> 01:12:01,360
You can't love both. You can't love them both. That's right.

1091
01:12:02,800 --> 01:12:06,360
Well, thank you so much for being on today and for educating

1092
01:12:06,860 --> 01:12:10,200
everybody. And, Jodi, I'd like

1093
01:12:10,700 --> 01:12:13,560
to have you on again, but if you want to do a couple quick updates

1094
01:12:14,060 --> 01:12:18,210
about when you were on the podcast last year. We talked about a

1095
01:12:18,710 --> 01:12:22,410
few issues I, I jotted down. We talked about Rocky the coyote,

1096
01:12:22,970 --> 01:12:26,490
we talked about Spur, and we talked

1097
01:12:26,990 --> 01:12:30,290
about the rabbit sales in the village of Lincolnwood,

1098
01:12:30,790 --> 01:12:33,210
I believe. Do you want to touch on a couple of those really quick?

1099
01:12:33,710 --> 01:12:37,850
And. And then I'll definitely be having you back on to talk more. But sure,

1100
01:12:38,730 --> 01:12:42,980
yeah. I mean, nothing, unfortunately, has changed since our last conversation.

1101
01:12:43,620 --> 01:12:47,340
The village of Lincolnwood in Illinois, which is just northwest

1102
01:12:47,840 --> 01:12:51,380
of the city of Chicago, has an ordinance on their.

1103
01:12:52,020 --> 01:12:55,740
On their books that prohibits the sale of

1104
01:12:56,240 --> 01:12:58,740
wild animals or the keeping or sale of wild animals.

1105
01:13:00,820 --> 01:13:03,780
And then Cook county, which Lincolnwood is part of,

1106
01:13:04,100 --> 01:13:08,140
which is basically Chicago land, passed an ordinance

1107
01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:12,650
in 20. I have to always think about the dates.

1108
01:13:13,150 --> 01:13:15,690
I think it was 2014. No I'm sorry, 2016,

1109
01:13:16,410 --> 01:13:19,290
that prohibits the sale of rabbits from pet stores.

1110
01:13:20,090 --> 01:13:23,570
And the village of Lincolnwood has opted out of that ordinance

1111
01:13:24,070 --> 01:13:27,610
for nine and a half years. And so every

1112
01:13:28,110 --> 01:13:32,010
day there's a. There's a pet store in Lincolnwood called the Animal Store, sells rabbits.

1113
01:13:32,490 --> 01:13:35,610
He has a tortoise that was trafficked from Africa.

1114
01:13:36,390 --> 01:13:40,790
Her name is Spur. And she has been stuck

1115
01:13:41,290 --> 01:13:44,710
in this display case in the Animal store, which is approximately 3 by

1116
01:13:45,210 --> 01:13:49,270
5ft. Display case with up against a big glass

1117
01:13:49,770 --> 01:13:52,790
window for nearly 35 years. Yes.

1118
01:13:52,950 --> 01:13:56,790
We started this campaign in 2021.

1119
01:13:57,270 --> 01:14:00,830
So we've been doing this for four years. It's far too long. Just like the

1120
01:14:01,330 --> 01:14:04,470
steer tailing. And she.

1121
01:14:04,550 --> 01:14:07,510
So she's up against this glass window. She is from Africa.

1122
01:14:07,590 --> 01:14:10,750
Her average temperature in her home would be

1123
01:14:11,250 --> 01:14:14,750
80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. And,

1124
01:14:15,250 --> 01:14:18,430
you know, so December, January, February in Chicago, she's up

1125
01:14:18,930 --> 01:14:21,910
against a glass window when it's zero degrees outside or below.

1126
01:14:22,230 --> 01:14:26,870
Steve went with me to submit public comment before Lincolnwood's

1127
01:14:27,510 --> 01:14:29,510
lousy leadership is what I call them.

1128
01:14:30,780 --> 01:14:34,860
And we went, after we testified to go see Spur.

1129
01:14:35,340 --> 01:14:38,780
And she was as far from the window as possible.

1130
01:14:38,860 --> 01:14:41,900
And she was under the hay. All she has is hay.

1131
01:14:42,540 --> 01:14:46,300
She actually has water now. Well, I don't know, because I can't go to the.

1132
01:14:46,620 --> 01:14:50,060
To the window anymore because of other crazy

1133
01:14:50,560 --> 01:14:53,980
legal stuff. Relentless activism,

1134
01:14:54,620 --> 01:14:58,000
right? Yeah. I've been charged with. With a stalking

1135
01:14:58,080 --> 01:15:02,160
by a unhinged person

1136
01:15:02,720 --> 01:15:06,480
who sprayed me with water. When we arrived for our monthly

1137
01:15:06,980 --> 01:15:10,320
outreach at the Animal store back in April, we were.

1138
01:15:10,820 --> 01:15:14,200
We arrived. We speak for Spur. We speak for the rabbits. We speak for all

1139
01:15:14,700 --> 01:15:18,640
the animals. Right? The wild animals that are suffering in cages and being sold

1140
01:15:19,140 --> 01:15:22,800
like toys. And we were preparing, pulling out our signs,

1141
01:15:22,880 --> 01:15:26,240
getting my speaker and microphone set up. And I felt.

1142
01:15:26,740 --> 01:15:30,120
And it was a nice kind of warm day for April. I was wearing sandals

1143
01:15:30,620 --> 01:15:34,160
and I felt some wetness on my feet. I look up and I

1144
01:15:34,660 --> 01:15:38,240
see this person who had been. Who has

1145
01:15:38,740 --> 01:15:44,240
been coming out and talking to us and harassing us at times holding

1146
01:15:44,740 --> 01:15:47,080
a hose. And I thought to myself,

1147
01:15:48,120 --> 01:15:51,320
she's going to try to get us to leave. But, you know, that's not going

1148
01:15:51,820 --> 01:15:55,940
to happen. So I continue to do what I'm doing. I'm bent over, I'm pulling

1149
01:15:56,440 --> 01:16:00,060
the signs out. And then I feel on the back of my head a direct

1150
01:16:00,220 --> 01:16:03,980
spray from a hose coming from

1151
01:16:05,980 --> 01:16:09,660
balcony. So she sprayed the back of my

1152
01:16:10,160 --> 01:16:13,500
head, the back, my. I was actually wearing this jacket, a black

1153
01:16:14,000 --> 01:16:16,220
jacket. My entire jacket was wet.

1154
01:16:17,020 --> 01:16:21,170
She Sprayed my electric SP speaker, my microphone,

1155
01:16:21,670 --> 01:16:24,930
our signs, my cell phone. So we

1156
01:16:25,010 --> 01:16:28,530
quickly gathered everything up and went on the other side of the.

1157
01:16:28,850 --> 01:16:30,690
Kind of the. Where the.

1158
01:16:31,730 --> 01:16:35,249
The parking lot is to this mini mall where the animals.

1159
01:16:35,410 --> 01:16:38,930
This menagerie is. Right. And I called nine. It took me

1160
01:16:39,430 --> 01:16:42,210
a couple minutes to dry off my phone. My phone was soaking Wet. So I

1161
01:16:42,710 --> 01:16:46,270
called 911 and reported her. The police came and

1162
01:16:46,770 --> 01:16:50,110
they. We had got the body cam footage. They charged her with a

1163
01:16:50,610 --> 01:16:53,990
battery. That's good. So then you fast

1164
01:16:54,490 --> 01:16:57,670
forward a couple months and then I. We show up again for one of our

1165
01:16:57,830 --> 01:17:01,469
outreaches, and the police show up and they come and they

1166
01:17:01,969 --> 01:17:05,350
serve me with a note saying that I'm stalking her.

1167
01:17:06,710 --> 01:17:09,350
So they give you, like, a restraining order?

1168
01:17:09,830 --> 01:17:13,190
Yes. So now I cannot be. I know. I'm laughing, too.

1169
01:17:13,500 --> 01:17:16,540
Sorry. Yeah, it's. We're both laughing about it, but yeah.

1170
01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:20,660
It just shows you what's happening in our world with animal advocates. If you

1171
01:17:21,160 --> 01:17:24,780
are out there speaking out for the animals. Right. You're going to be targeted because,

1172
01:17:25,580 --> 01:17:29,260
you know, we are, you know, back around.

1173
01:17:31,420 --> 01:17:35,020
I don't know what year it was, but, you know, the FBI was

1174
01:17:35,520 --> 01:17:38,380
labeling animal rights activists as the number one terrorist threat.

1175
01:17:39,030 --> 01:17:42,950
Right. You know, because we are causing harm to the money.

1176
01:17:43,270 --> 01:17:47,110
Yeah. Big ag. Right. That's what. Yeah. The Farm. The Farm

1177
01:17:47,610 --> 01:17:51,270
Bureau is always. Everything's a slippery slope for them. So they

1178
01:17:51,770 --> 01:17:54,550
want to take anything that can come at them next,

1179
01:17:55,270 --> 01:17:58,830
holding signs. Or documenting crimes like Shark

1180
01:17:59,330 --> 01:18:03,510
does with drones. Then, you know, white supremacists who

1181
01:18:04,010 --> 01:18:07,760
bomb synagogues or bomb black churches.

1182
01:18:08,160 --> 01:18:11,680
It's ridiculous. So, yes, I'm going through that legal process, too.

1183
01:18:12,480 --> 01:18:16,080
And again, I can't talk too much, but she's the one who sprayed

1184
01:18:16,580 --> 01:18:20,160
me. And she did plead liable for spraying me

1185
01:18:20,660 --> 01:18:22,880
with a hose that day, which was assault.

1186
01:18:23,840 --> 01:18:27,440
And so the campaign is still very active. We are

1187
01:18:27,680 --> 01:18:31,890
fighting. We are now going to their board meetings and disrupting

1188
01:18:32,390 --> 01:18:35,970
them outside. Last week, we went to their board meeting,

1189
01:18:36,470 --> 01:18:39,930
and a police officer always comes out and asks us to keep it down.

1190
01:18:41,130 --> 01:18:44,530
And I told him this last time. I said, no. He said, well, you know,

1191
01:18:45,030 --> 01:18:48,410
they're trying to have their meeting. And I said, yeah, yeah, we know. We're here.

1192
01:18:48,650 --> 01:18:52,130
We're here to disrupt the board. Mayor Giselle

1193
01:18:52,630 --> 01:18:56,010
Patel refuses to meet with us. We've been doing this for four years.

1194
01:18:56,810 --> 01:19:00,000
They're. I have a lot of friends who do rabbit rescue.

1195
01:19:00,320 --> 01:19:03,200
And every day, I mean,

1196
01:19:04,080 --> 01:19:08,040
the entire country is bombarded with domesticated rabbits being

1197
01:19:08,540 --> 01:19:12,440
dumped and abandoned because they're still being sold like

1198
01:19:12,940 --> 01:19:16,920
their material goods. So we will continue to disrupt their board meetings.

1199
01:19:17,420 --> 01:19:20,000
We will continue to attend their events.

1200
01:19:20,960 --> 01:19:24,960
Unfortunately, we can't really document how

1201
01:19:25,460 --> 01:19:28,120
he's getting the animals, which I'd love to figure out how to do.

1202
01:19:30,040 --> 01:19:33,360
But we. We have documented Spur

1203
01:19:33,860 --> 01:19:36,360
trying to climb out of her prison.

1204
01:19:36,840 --> 01:19:40,640
Right. And Steve was there, like I said, the day that

1205
01:19:41,140 --> 01:19:44,920
it was. What was that? January, Steve, or February? It was very

1206
01:19:45,420 --> 01:19:49,480
cold. I think it was February, but I'm not sure. Yeah, yeah. And it was

1207
01:19:49,800 --> 01:19:53,920
freezing outside. And she did not have water for

1208
01:19:54,420 --> 01:19:57,640
the first three years of our campaign. No. No drinking water in her cage.

1209
01:19:57,880 --> 01:20:01,800
She had no heat lamps because of caa. She now

1210
01:20:02,300 --> 01:20:06,280
has a water bowl and she has heat lamps. But she cannot

1211
01:20:06,780 --> 01:20:10,080
roam. She cannot burrow like sulcata tortoises like to

1212
01:20:10,580 --> 01:20:14,520
do. We have a sanctuary willing to take her. The Desert Oasis Turtle and

1213
01:20:15,020 --> 01:20:18,840
Tortoise Sanctuary in Arizona, which would mimic her native

1214
01:20:18,920 --> 01:20:22,280
Africa, will take her for free at no charge to

1215
01:20:22,780 --> 01:20:25,640
the animal store or to the village of Lincolnwood. And they won't.

1216
01:20:25,880 --> 01:20:29,880
Animal advocates would transport her safely to Arizona,

1217
01:20:30,120 --> 01:20:33,160
but they won't meet with us. They won't enforce their laws.

1218
01:20:33,640 --> 01:20:37,080
And it's just another example of clear laws

1219
01:20:37,580 --> 01:20:39,240
on the books being clouded.

1220
01:20:40,680 --> 01:20:44,490
Right. Well, thank you for all the work you do

1221
01:20:44,990 --> 01:20:48,170
every single day, Jodi and Steve. It's.

1222
01:20:48,670 --> 01:20:52,170
It's. This was sad and,

1223
01:20:52,730 --> 01:20:57,050
you know, like all of these animal issues. But there is hope if

1224
01:20:57,129 --> 01:21:00,810
people join us to help the animals.

1225
01:21:02,090 --> 01:21:05,450
Is there anything else you guys would like to add before we sign off?

1226
01:21:07,700 --> 01:21:11,740
You know, the biggest criticism I have of animal protect, the animal protection

1227
01:21:12,240 --> 01:21:14,660
movement is that people in it are just not.

1228
01:21:16,740 --> 01:21:19,220
They don't stick to the issue enough.

1229
01:21:20,340 --> 01:21:23,700
They get frustrated. They feel like nothing's going to change.

1230
01:21:24,100 --> 01:21:27,860
Well, we've been making change for decades, and we know

1231
01:21:28,360 --> 01:21:32,260
how it works, and we know that it takes time. Right. Those animals are

1232
01:21:32,760 --> 01:21:36,340
worth your continued effort. Everybody, look. Yeah.

1233
01:21:36,840 --> 01:21:39,860
It took women 50 years of effort to get to vote.

1234
01:21:40,100 --> 01:21:42,660
That's right. You know,

1235
01:21:43,380 --> 01:21:46,260
it took a war to end slavery. Right.

1236
01:21:46,660 --> 01:21:50,860
You've got to get in this and just stay in it, because we've

1237
01:21:51,360 --> 01:21:55,060
had victory after victory. We will win the steer tailing issue.

1238
01:21:55,560 --> 01:21:59,060
We will win it. There's no question. The only. The only question is,

1239
01:21:59,560 --> 01:22:03,290
how long will it take? Because will not give up. And if

1240
01:22:03,790 --> 01:22:07,730
the whole movement worked that way, organizations and individuals just

1241
01:22:08,230 --> 01:22:11,730
did not give up until they were victorious. They would virtually

1242
01:22:12,230 --> 01:22:15,930
always be victorious, and we would be so much farther ahead. So please,

1243
01:22:16,430 --> 01:22:20,250
people, do not give up. If it's

1244
01:22:20,750 --> 01:22:23,330
worth it to get in the fight, then it's worth it to stay in long

1245
01:22:23,830 --> 01:22:26,940
enough to win. That's right. Thank you. And,

1246
01:22:27,440 --> 01:22:31,140
and I hear people say, oh, I'm burned out, I'm tired.

1247
01:22:31,640 --> 01:22:34,780
And I get it. I mean, I, There are times that I don't necessarily want

1248
01:22:35,280 --> 01:22:39,460
to go do a protest. I don't really like protesting. I think some people who

1249
01:22:39,960 --> 01:22:43,340
are not animal advocates or not involved with whatever, you know,

1250
01:22:43,840 --> 01:22:46,420
issue they're involved with, who do protests,

1251
01:22:46,740 --> 01:22:50,540
think that animal advocates like going to protest. Right. Maybe there

1252
01:22:51,040 --> 01:22:55,120
are some. I personally don't. Nope. I mean, I am all about being

1253
01:22:55,620 --> 01:22:59,160
as active as possible, but it's not fun going

1254
01:22:59,660 --> 01:23:02,360
to a protest. But it has to be done. I mean,

1255
01:23:03,480 --> 01:23:06,720
have fun after, go to the vegan restaurant together after

1256
01:23:07,220 --> 01:23:11,040
and have fun, but go and do the work. It's not just in person protests

1257
01:23:11,540 --> 01:23:14,920
though, that you have to do. There's always all sorts of ways you can be

1258
01:23:15,420 --> 01:23:18,800
an activist. And like Steve says, Shark doesn't

1259
01:23:19,300 --> 01:23:23,370
really do a lot of in person protests, but we basically contact

1260
01:23:23,450 --> 01:23:27,050
legislators every single day. And there's always, there's always

1261
01:23:27,550 --> 01:23:30,410
a way to take action. If you're an introvert, you can do something. If you're

1262
01:23:30,910 --> 01:23:34,130
on social media, you can do the action without showing

1263
01:23:34,630 --> 01:23:38,810
your face, you know, being a public speaker. And I just, there's ways

1264
01:23:39,310 --> 01:23:42,530
to take action. And I want to throw out the village of Lincolnwood.

1265
01:23:43,030 --> 01:23:46,410
They have a social media page. People can go to their page, ask them why

1266
01:23:46,910 --> 01:23:50,090
they won't meet with the Chicago, Chicago alliance for Animals, ask them why they won't

1267
01:23:50,590 --> 01:23:54,450
enforce their own laws that prohibit the sale of rabbits and wild

1268
01:23:54,950 --> 01:24:00,410
animals. And they can call 847-763-1480

1269
01:24:00,890 --> 01:24:04,250
or email jpatel J P

1270
01:24:04,330 --> 01:24:08,650
A T e l@lwd.org

1271
01:24:08,970 --> 01:24:12,770
I appreciate anybody reaching out to the mayor and

1272
01:24:13,270 --> 01:24:16,320
to Governor Pritzker and we'll. Put that in the show notes as well. So people

1273
01:24:16,820 --> 01:24:19,600
have access to all of that. So,

1274
01:24:20,000 --> 01:24:24,040
you know, the. I want to just share one quick story. The Latino colleague

1275
01:24:24,540 --> 01:24:28,800
of mine said we talked recently and he had communicated

1276
01:24:29,300 --> 01:24:32,960
with some members of Illinois's Latino Caucus who told him that they feel

1277
01:24:33,460 --> 01:24:37,520
like they're being attacked. He didn't say necessarily from me or Sharp,

1278
01:24:38,020 --> 01:24:41,730
but he said they feel like they're being attacked. And I was

1279
01:24:42,610 --> 01:24:46,210
like, they're being attacked because they signed up

1280
01:24:46,290 --> 01:24:49,610
to be an elected official and expect that the

1281
01:24:50,110 --> 01:24:53,610
members of the public are going to ask them to stop suffering and

1282
01:24:54,110 --> 01:24:57,370
make the world a better place. Yeah. Too bad the animals are the ones being

1283
01:24:57,870 --> 01:25:01,650
attacked, right? The animals are having limbs broken and tailed and being mutilated.

1284
01:25:02,050 --> 01:25:05,530
They're the ones being attacked. So if you are

1285
01:25:06,030 --> 01:25:09,290
an elected official, you better expect to hear from us. You better expect

1286
01:25:09,790 --> 01:25:13,410
to hear from people who want you to do your job and what you signed

1287
01:25:13,910 --> 01:25:16,330
up to do, which is make the world a better place. Right?

1288
01:25:17,050 --> 01:25:20,730
Yeah. And I think that, you know, even if, if you're told by,

1289
01:25:21,230 --> 01:25:24,530
if you're, if you call your state legislator, well, you've called us enough on this.

1290
01:25:25,030 --> 01:25:27,930
We don't want to hear about it. Hang up and then write them a snail

1291
01:25:28,430 --> 01:25:31,450
mail or a card or a letter and mail it to them. So,

1292
01:25:31,950 --> 01:25:35,030
you know, and then call them again because they need, they need to hear from

1293
01:25:35,530 --> 01:25:38,830
you, the animal. Excuse me? The animals need them to hear

1294
01:25:39,330 --> 01:25:42,270
from you. Yeah. So. And they will try to do that. They'll try to say

1295
01:25:42,770 --> 01:25:46,470
things that try to discourage you, but you just have to. Relentless activism.

1296
01:25:47,270 --> 01:25:50,230
When I look at Jody, that's what I, that's the word that comes to mind.

1297
01:25:50,950 --> 01:25:53,830
And we can all, and we can all do that. Yeah, it's,

1298
01:25:54,330 --> 01:25:57,750
it's just they're, they're trying to guilt us into shutting up.

1299
01:25:57,830 --> 01:26:01,250
And if anybody knows, me and Steve, we're pretty.

1300
01:26:01,490 --> 01:26:04,890
You guys don't shut up. That's good. That's good.

1301
01:26:05,390 --> 01:26:08,810
So I hope you can inspire other people to, to, to be a voice and

1302
01:26:09,310 --> 01:26:12,010
not shut up too. Because it's, it's, it's so important. That's what we all do.

1303
01:26:12,510 --> 01:26:16,610
What we do every single day. So I want to thank you both for

1304
01:26:16,690 --> 01:26:19,850
all of this information, for taking the time out of your busy days to be

1305
01:26:20,350 --> 01:26:24,730
with us today. And I know I'll probably have you both back on eventually

1306
01:26:25,230 --> 01:26:28,390
and hopefully to talk about some victories or different things

1307
01:26:28,890 --> 01:26:32,270
that people can do to help the animals. So thank you both so much and

1308
01:26:32,590 --> 01:26:35,910
I'll see you next time. And everyone listening. Be a voice for the animals

1309
01:26:36,410 --> 01:26:39,950
every chance you get. Thank you. Nicole, thank you

1310
01:26:40,450 --> 01:26:43,870
so much. Thank you for all you and Patrick do for the horses. Thank you.

1311
01:26:44,190 --> 01:26:47,230
I appreciate you both. Thank you so much. Okay,

1312
01:26:47,470 --> 01:26:48,110
bye. Bye.

1313
01:26:55,160 --> 01:26:59,160
Hey there, animal lovers. Nicole here from. In behalf of animals,

1314
01:26:59,400 --> 01:27:02,920
we hope you love our show as much as you love animals.

1315
01:27:03,420 --> 01:27:07,640
And if you do, can you take a quick action to help amplify their voices?

1316
01:27:08,120 --> 01:27:11,280
Simply follow our podcast and write us a five star

1317
01:27:11,780 --> 01:27:15,680
review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you are listening

1318
01:27:16,180 --> 01:27:19,800
right now. It helps new listeners discover the show and to learn

1319
01:27:20,300 --> 01:27:24,170
more about how they can help animals. Thank you again for being

1320
01:27:24,670 --> 01:27:28,490
part of this great community we appreciate your support. And remember,

1321
01:27:28,890 --> 01:27:32,250
be a voice for the animals every chance you get.