Why won't WTE tell truth about CFD horse deaths?
From Steve Hindi
President, SHowing Animals
Respect and Kindness (SHARK)
Geneva, Ill.
On July 27, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle chose to give a token nod to journalism.
The newspaper's editorial board posted an opinion piece ("CFD officials should review horse's death") saying Cheyenne Frontier Days officials look at the death of a horse, Check Mate, during rodeo competition. At issue - they claim - was that a second horse in three years had died during rookie saddle bronc competition on July 24.
For reasons only they can explain, the newspaper chose to ignore two other horses that were seriously injured.
As with Strawberry Fudge and Check Mate, Cajun Katy was also dragged onto a trailer and hauled out of the arena. A fourth horse, Wobble Water, was clearly injured on July 25.
From across the arena we could easily see the injury, so obviously rodeo officials standing a few feet away could see it as well. The clearly injured horse was forced to run to mask the injury.
Why won't the Wyoming Tribune Eagle tell the whole truth? Not only have we not kept the other two injuries a secret, SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) even supplied them the links to the videos, and people around the world are expressing their disgust and repulsion of the abuse.
Let me be clear: I once respected the WTE. After SHARK exposed that Cheyenne rodeo horses were being shocked in 2005, WTE reporter Cara Eastwood investigated and reported that horses were still being shocked in 2006.
When SHARK came back in 2007 and again exposed that horses were still being shocked, the WTE voiced an opinion that such cruelty should stop.
Something happened last year though. The WTE published a front page article titled "Animals get the utmost care." On that day, I wrote the newspaper off as a journalistic organization.
I am completely unimpressed by the recent token of journalistic integrity. They don't even have the correct victim count.
We are not fooled, however. Since the WTE chooses to pretend to care about truth and justice, we challenge the editor, the publisher and the staff to tell the truth. What really happened to Cajun Katy? What happened to Wobble Water?
