Spectacles
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:
Florida attorney general Bob
Butterworth on May 6 ruled that so-
called hog-dog rodeos violate the state
animal cruelty law. The rodeos pit dogs
against hogs in an enclosed arena. The
dog who corners a hog fastest is the win-
ner. Videos of dogs biting pigs’ snouts,
ears, and legs have been widely broadcast
in recent weeks, as members of United
Bay Pens Association, a hog-dog rodeo
front group, have defended the events as
“good clean family fun,” and Hardee
County sheriff Rickey Dick has refused to
arrest either organizers or participants.
State attorney Joseph D’Alessandro
promised on May 13 that no one would be
arrested if the rodeos cease, but a UBPA
spokesman said they would continue until
arrests were made.
The Humane Society of the
U.S. on April 21 announced it would
ask sponsors to boycott the Iditarod dog
sled race, in protest of continued dog
deaths during the event. One dog died
this year, after six died in 1993. “Tell
’em to go to hell,” said Joe Redington, of
Knik, a cofounder of the 1,100-mile race.
The Iditarod Trail Committee voted five
days later to oust HSUS vice president
David Wills from its animal care panel.
After viewing videotape of the
Tim Rivers Diving Mule Act, C o o k
County circuit judge Everette Braden on
May 20 barred the act from performing at
Kiddieland, in Melrose Park, Illinois. A
day earlier, Braden held that the Illinois
Citizens Animal Welfare League lacked
standing to seek such an injunction, but
was reversed by the Illinois Appellate
Court. Humane groups have sought simi-
lar injunctions in at least seven other
states over the past six years, but have
previously been thwarted by vague state
definitions of cruelty.
