Group targets CNFR

An animal rights group posted a video on YouTube on Thursday showing three scenes of a man covertly shocking what appears to be two different horses to force them to buck during Thursday's performance of the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper. "They claim [horses] are born to buck," said Steve Hindi, president of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK. "They are not," Hindi said. The video appears to show a young man wearing blue jeans, a long-sleeve tan shirt and black hat with his hands on the horses' necks and pulling them quickly away. In all scenes, he immediately tucks a device under his unbuttoned sleeve. CNFR spokeswoman Susan Kanode responded Friday with a press release stating: "Safety and the welfare of animal and human athletes is of the highest concern to the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. "The use of prods is acceptable where the animal’s safety is a concern as in the case of a horse stalling in the bucking chute," Kanode said...more