Mexican Rodeo Promoter Charged With Animal Cruelty

Last week, the American Humane Association was ready to file an injunction to stop a Mexican rodeo in Jefferson County, Colorado. The specific event they were trying to lasso was the coleadero, a.k.a. "steer-tailing." As you might imagine from the name, the coleadero involves a cowboy riding alongside a steer and attempting to take it down by the tail. The coleadero held last month by the same promoter resulted in 11 bulls with injuries, like broken bones and skin torn from their tails, and two animals dead.

Several other animal protection groups joined American Humane in protesting the event, and the county sheriff's office said they received hundreds of emails and phone calls from across the country. Promoter Dave Martinez decided to pull the coleadero from his rodeo this past weekend because "it's so controversial right now."

It's not so much controversial as it is cruel. Dave Martinez and his father are facing several animal cruelty charges due to the condition of the bulls after July's event. Martinez says it's been a really hard week. "I mean it's hard enough to run a rodeo. It's even harder to, you know, have it with all this pressure and um, with um, some harassment." That must be tough. But I'm thinking it's even tougher for the bulls with de-gloved tails who didn't receive proper veterinary care (not to mention the ones who died).

Martinez insisted that his rodeo is about "tradition and competition," not about hurting animals. And then he said he was being targeted because it was a Mexican rodeo.

But Toby de la Torre, chief executive of Charros USA, one of two organizations that oversees Mexican rodeos, said Martinez's event wasn't even a real Mexican rodeo. "These guys putting on the coleadero don't belong to any organization. They're just a group of guys. They don't follow the rules." He said the rules are in place to prevent the types of injuries found in Martinez's bulls.

Getting yanked to the ground by the tail still doesn't sound like a pleasant experience, even if it only happens a limited number of times and the ground is soft. Like all rodeo events, whether Mexican or American, it's one more "tradition" that should have run its course by now.

Martinez replaced the event with bull riding and bronc busting, which makes me think that he's missing the point as to why he was "harassed" by animal welfare advocates. He's also required to have a veterinarian on-site during the rodeo and to abide by the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association rules (for whatever that's worth).

He says he's like to sit down with officials and "see where the line is and see why my event might be different from others and see what we can do to make this better for everyone." Well, at the most basic level, the line is drawn when you're running an event outside all established guidelines and it results in injured and dead animals. And it's not different than others — all rodeos should be scrutinized by officials and held accountable for the way they treat animals.

The only way to "make this better for everyone" would be to find a pursuit other than rodeos — of any kind — and preferably something that doesn't involve animals. There's no need to abuse animals for tradition, culture, or competition, and especially not for family-oriented activities.

Martinez and his father will be in court at the end of August. Here's hoping that their cruelty charges result in the cancellation of their rodeos scheduled for the fall and a permanent career change away from animals.

Photo credit: Carlos de las Piedras