Performing Animals
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:
Wild Willie, the bull who was castrated
in front of the Mississippi State University foot-
ball team in early September, has been saved
from the slaughterhouse by Frank Truitt, a steak-
eating Army Reserve recruiter, and insurance
salesman Billy Walker, a hunter, Truitt and
Walker paid $2,000 apiece for Wild Willie, but
hope to recoup their money by using him in com-
mercial promotions.
Falmouth, Pennsylvania, hosted its
13th annual goat race on October 3. Ten thou-
sand people attended; 63 goats and human com-
panions participated. Held almost in the shadow
of the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear reactor
(about an hour’s drive south of Hegins), the event
began as a joke, when former state representative
Ken Brandt took out a newspaper ad listing his
friend Glen Hipple as the organizer of such an
event. When people began calling to enter,
Hipple went ahead and did organize it. The rules
call for each contestant to sprint one tenth of a
mile, more or less, with a goat on a leash. The
goats are reportedly rarely inclined to maintain a
pace.
The Oregon activist group Committed
to Animal Protection and Rescue asks that let-
ters opposing greased pig chases be addressed to
Dave Sorenson, General Manager, Sentry
Stores, 6433 S.E. Lake Road, Milwaukee, OR
97222; and Dick McPike, owner, Molalla
Sentry Store, 6100 S.E. King Road, Milwaukee,
OR 97222.
