![\"Charro.\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-05-26_13-37-22-898-scaled-e1748291903838.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n SPRINGFIELD,\u00a0 Illinois\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker,\u00a0 courting Mexican investment in Illinois industry to offset the recent loss of companies including Caterpillar,\u00a0 Citadel,\u00a0 Boeing,\u00a0 Tyson Foods, Guggenheim Partners,\u00a0 and TTX railcar leasing,\u00a0 seems to be hanging his hopes of winning the 2028 Democratic nomination to run for U.S. president on the theory that more Americans will appreciate his opposition to current president Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive deportation of Mexican illegal immigrants than will hold Pritzker accountable for his appointees and political allies\u2019 non-enforcement of the Illinois Humane Care of Animals Act.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Non-enforcement of the Illinois Humane Care of Animals Act against cockfighting and charreada<\/em>,\u00a0 in particular,\u00a0 two\u00a0 favorite recreational pastimes of Mexican immigrants,\u00a0 has become especially conspicuous through the ongoing investigative work of Showing Animals Respect & Kindness,\u00a0 previously best known for exposing U.S.-style rodeo abuses and cockfighting by Anglos in the Appalachians,\u00a0 Oklahoma,\u00a0 and Texas.<\/p>\n The last big cockfighting bust in Illinois appears to have been in 2009,\u00a0 a decade before Pritzker took office as governor.<\/p>\n The steer-tailing event in charreada<\/em>,\u00a0 called cola<\/em>,\u00a0 in which running steers are repeatedly slammed to the ground by mounted charros<\/em>,\u00a0 using the combination of a kick with a jerk of the steers\u2019 tails,\u00a0 has never been prosecuted in Illinois from the state level\u2013\u2013or anywhere else,\u00a0 for that matter,\u00a0 but Illinois appears to be the hub of U.S. cola <\/em>competition,\u00a0 usually decoupled from all nine of the other standard charreada <\/em>events.<\/p>\n Illinois governor JB Pritzker. (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Steers by the dozen every weekend during the six-month charreada<\/em> season frequently suffer \u201cdegloving,\u201d\u00a0 meaning that the skin and hair is ripped from their tail bones;\u00a0 broken bones and horns;\u00a0 head and neck injuries;\u00a0 and are driven through the chutes with electric prods to be chased and thrown down again and again,\u00a0 so long as they can still stand up.<\/p>\n The horses,\u00a0 meanwhile,\u00a0 are frequently flogged in a manner not permitted in any other form of equestrian competition:\u00a0 not horse racing,\u00a0 nor even in U.S.-style rodeo,\u00a0 as violent toward animals as that is.<\/p>\n Showing Animals Respect & Kindness has for three years videotaped all the above abuses at cola<\/em> competition after cola<\/em> competition,\u00a0 again and again appealing to law enforcement and regulatory bodies at every level to invoke the plain language of the Illinois Humane Care of Animals Act to stop it:<\/p>\n \u201cNo person or owner may beat, \u00a0cruelly treat, \u00a0torment, \u00a0starve, \u00a0overwork or otherwise abuse any animal.\u201d<\/p>\n But neither the Illinois Department of Agriculture,\u00a0 directed since 2020 by Pritzker appointee Jerry Costello II,\u00a0 nor Boone County and Ogle County state\u2019s attorneys Karla Maville and Mike Rock,\u00a0 both Republicans,\u00a0 have prosecuted the Illinois Humane Care of Animals Act against cola,<\/em>\u00a0 in particular,\u00a0 no matter how badly the steers have been injured.<\/p>\n Steer tailing.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Showing Animals Respect & Kindness [SHARK] drone team over the Memorial Day weekend monitored four steer-tailing competitions,\u00a0 from Rochelle,\u00a0 in Ogle County,\u00a0 Illinois, \u00a0120 miles east to Lowell,\u00a0 in Lake County,\u00a0 Indiana.<\/p>\n A fifth scheduled steer-tailing competition,\u00a0 to have been held in Boone County,\u00a0 Illinois,\u00a0 was cancelled,\u00a0 Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi told ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong>,\u00a0 after SHARK campaign director Jodie Wiederkehr persuaded a Poplar Grove veterinarian to withdraw from monitoring the event,\u00a0 as required by Boone County ordinance.<\/p>\n Boone County officials have previously been embarrassed when Showing Animals Respect & Kindness demonstrated that one \u201cveterinarian\u201d supposed to have monitored a steer-tailing competition was actually just a vet tech,\u00a0 and when veterinarians said to have been present were not.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Earlier in the Memorial Day weekend,\u00a0 Wiederkehr emailed on May 25,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 \u201cOur team is currently out in Ogle County at 16989 Ritchie Road in Rochelle,\u00a0 Illinois,\u201d\u00a0 an estate called Rancho La Esperanza,\u00a0 which has been a county-licensed charreada<\/em> facility since 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been to board meetings, \u00a0made phone calls, and made videos about the horrific abuse that happened at the last event in Rochelle on April 19,\u201d\u00a0 Wiederkehr said.<\/p>\n \u201cAn animal control officer [who attended the event and departed early] rarely left her vehicle, \u00a0except to direct traffic,\u00a0 one horse and three steers had their legs shattered, \u00a0three more steers had their tails ripped off their bodies, \u00a0two more were lamed, \u00a0and there were multiple head injuries, \u00a0bloody horns, and open wounds.<\/p>\n Jodie Wiederkehr and dog Maggie.<\/strong><\/em> \u201cNo veterinarians were present, \u00a0so none of these animals received veterinary care or pain relief, \u00a0and all of this violates Illinois\u2019 Humane Care for Animals Act,\u201d\u00a0 Wiederkehr alleged.<\/p>\n The Ogle County Sheriff\u2019s Office told the SHARK team that complaints would be accepted only from eyewitnesses,\u00a0 Wiederkehr continued,\u00a0 \u201cso Steve Hindi, \u00a0while in the middle of the operation,\u201d\u00a0 specifically while flying drones with mounted cameras,\u00a0 \u201ccalled the police himself, \u00a0only to be put on hold indefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n All of the injured steers,\u00a0 Wiederkehr said,\u00a0 were \u201cput back into the lineup to be run and abused again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSHARK advocates say they\u2019ve monitored Rochelle\u2019s Rancho La Esperanza for years,\u201d\u00a0 reported Nathaniel Langley on May 13,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 for WIFR television in Rockford,\u00a0 Illinois.<\/p>\n \u201cThe nonprofit\u2018s footage shows cattle wobbling, limping and holding and wiggling snapped legs following the steer tailing,\u201d\u00a0 Langley affirmed.<\/p>\n Ogle County, Illinois state\u2019s attorney Mike Rock.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIn a state that brags about having one of the best humane laws in the country, this is brutality on a level that wouldn\u2019t be accepted in many third-world countries,\u201d \u00a0Steve Hindi told Langley.<\/p>\n Noting that a bill to ban steer-tailing,\u00a0 SB 45,\u00a0 has been introduced in the Illinois state assembly,\u00a0 Ogle County State\u2019s Attorney Mike Rock \u201cpushed back against SHARK\u2019s claims of animal abuse,\u201d\u00a0 Langley narrated.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that there\u2019s a specific law being proposed to outlaw this specific act tells you the legislature does not believe that their laws otherwise cover it,\u201d \u00a0argued Rock.<\/p>\n Ogle County chair Bruce Larson,\u00a0 a Republican,\u00a0 said that the county could revoke the charreada permit issued in 2012 only for violations of provisions concerning noise and times of operation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen asked if cultural heritage should be considered in the steer tailing debate,\u201d\u00a0 Langley finished, \u00a0Hindi responded,\u00a0 \u201cIf I come from Norway, \u00a0I don\u2019t get to kill whales off our coast.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles VanHorn of Superhits 935 radio in Rochelle, \u00a0Illinois,\u00a0 on May 21, 2025 mentioned that \u201cThe Ogle County Board has tabled a resolution that would support state legislation banning steer tailing,\u201d\u00a0 adding that,\u00a0 \u201cThe board\u2019s ethics committee recommended that special use permits for rodeo events be reviewed by zoning officials in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meanwhile in Wisconsin,\u00a0 neighboring Illinois,\u00a0 the Clark County Sheriff\u2019s Office on May 22,\u00a0 2025 \u201cseized more than 160 roosters and hens from a rural farm near Dorchester,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 WIZM radio news reported from La Crosse.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sheriff\u2019s office was assisted by Humane World for Animals, \u00a0formerly the Humane Society of the United States,\u201d\u00a0 the WIZM staff report continued.<\/p>\n \u201cLaw enforcement served a search and seizure warrant around 9 a.m. that morning. \u00a0When they arrived, \u00a0they found the birds in dire condition. A news release from Humane World for Animals said that most had no access to food or water,\u201d\u00a0 WIZM continued.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the birds were missing toes. In one case, a bird was missing both feet, the release stated.\u00a0\u00a0 They also found evidence of a practice called dubbing, \u00a0where the wattles and combs of roosters get cut off,\u201d\u00a0 purportedly \u201cto mitigate blood loss during cockfights,\u201d\u00a0 the Humane World for Animals statement said.<\/p>\n \u201cDead chicks were discovered across the property,\u201d\u00a0 along with cockfighting paraphernalia,\u00a0 WIZM added.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The biggest cockfight busted between Cinco de Mayo and Labor Day 2025,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 was discovered in southwest Miami-Dade County on May 16,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 by sheriff\u2019s deputies responding to a call about \u201ca fight involving \u201cknives and machetes,\u201d \u00a0Laura Rodriguez reported for NBC6.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce [the deputies] were at the scene,\u201d\u00a0 Rodriguez detailed,\u00a0 \u201cthe person who called authorities\u201d claimed to have witnessed multiple people who were \u201cnot only fighting but also engaged in illegal game fowl fighting,\u201d \u00a0according to arrest reports.<\/p>\n Forty-two people,\u00a0 all with Hispanic surnames, \u00a0\u201cwere arrested on charges of fighting or baiting animals and resisting arrest without violence,\u201d\u00a0 Rodriguez continued.<\/p>\n Seventy-two roosters and $39,000 in cash were impounded at the scene.<\/p>\nIllinois governor & Democratic presidential hopeful Pritzker led 71 Illinois high mucky-mucks on a trade mission to Mexico in April 2025,\u00a0 but is not known to have sent even one humane investigator to a \u201ccharreada\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNo known Illinois cockfighting busts in 16 years<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat happens at a charreada<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat SHARK did over the Memorial Day weekend<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAnimal control officer left early<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cNo veterinarians were present\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHindi:\u00a0 \u201cIf I come from Norway,\u00a0 I don\u2019t get to kill whales off our coast\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNo cockfighting busts in Illinois,\u00a0 but big bust in Wisconsin<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cKnives & machetes\u201d at cockfight<\/h2>\n