Every year, the Animal Legal Defense Fund ranks the states for the quality of their animal protection laws. When JB Pritzker became governor of Illinois in 2019, that state had been ranked No. 1 for 11 years in a row for having our country’s best animal protection laws. Illinois’ Humane Care for Animals Act stipulates that “no person or owner may beat, cruelly treat, torment, overwork or otherwise abuse any animal.”
Bovine tailing (also known as steer tailing or coleadero) was not allowed under this law. Bovine tailing is a rodeo type of event whereby riders on horseback forcibly pull a bull, cow or calf to the ground by the animal’s tail, often ripping the animal’s tail off (“degloving”), breaking their legs, causing head trauma, or otherwise seriously injuring the animal. The horses used in bovine tailing are often beaten and whipped and frequently also sustain serious injuries during the performance. Because bovine tailing is allowed in Mexico, Gov. Pritzker apparently believes it should be allowed in Illinois.
At an April 2025 event in Illinois, the animal rights organization Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK, reported that “a horse’s leg was broken; the animal was loaded into a trailer, without support or restraints, and driven away in agony. Time after time, our cameras captured animals being violently degloved, legs and horns breaking, all while crowds cheered … Our drone footage shows the true brutality of these moments. When the animal falls, his body hits the dirt with full momentum, legs twisting beneath him. Some steers are forced to continue running until they collapse. We have documented steers bleeding from degloved tails, limping on broken legs, or lying motionless from pure exhaustion.”
Thanks largely to the endeavors of SHARK, several counties in Illinois have stopped allowing these events — despite the Pritzker administration’s policy of allowing bovine tailing events to continue. Many other animal protection organizations, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Christian Animal Rights Association and Humane Farming Association, also have condemned this cruelty and want it stopped.
According to SHARK, Ogle County is currently allowing bovine tailing events to continue, usually at Rancho La Esperanza in Rochelle, Illinois. By the end of 2025, Ogle County accounted for nearly half of all bovine tailing that SHARK has documented in Illinois. SHARK said that “despite clear video evidence, State’s Attorney Mike Rock continues to refuse prosecution. His excuse? ‘That it’s hard to file charges’ or that ‘We don’t know who to charge’ … We’ve shown Governor Pritzker the footage ourselves. We’ve driven a video truck around Chicago and Springfield. We’ve called, emailed and posted — yet no action has been taken.”
SHARK also has worked to strengthen Illinois’ Humane Care for Animals Act through State Senate Bill 45. Introduced by Sen. Rachel Ventura on Jan. 13, 2025, the current law would be amended with a stipulation that “No person may intentionally drag or pull any bovine by its tail for the purpose of entertainment, sport, practice, or contest.” But with no support from Pritzker or Rock for this amendment, the bill remains stalled in the state’s legislature.
I don’t believe enactment of this amendment is necessary to shut down bovine tailing, because the current law already prohibits such cruelty. But the State’s Attorney is now using as another excuse for his inaction the fact that the amendment has not been enacted into law.
Actually, the Illinois State Senate recognizes the cruelty of bovine tailing. Last year, it passed a resolution, introduced by Sen. Ventura, that “We discourage all acts of bovine tailing and its associated harms.” So, why is the Legislature unwilling to walk as they talk by enacting the amendment?
Should the federal government do more to intervene to assure accountability and protection of animals from cruelty? While The Prevention of Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, or the PACT ACT, signed into law in 2019 by President Donald Trump during his first term in office, is limited in what it can accomplish, this law could be a good precedent for further federal initiatives to protect animals.
Further information, including SHARK’s drone footage of bovine tailing, is accessible at www.sharkonline.org.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer, a renowned humanitarian physician, wrote, “The time will come when public opinion will no longer tolerate amusements based on the mistreatment and killing of animals. The time will come, but when?”
This is a question I thought about when I recently learned that Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, is not planning to speak out against the horrors of bullfighting — which, among other horrors includes smearing Vaseline in bulls’ eyes, stabbing and otherwise torturing them, and, while they remain alive, cutting off their ears, hooves, and tails — and the torture of animals that often occurs during patron saints celebrations in some predominantly Catholic faith nations. These tortures include riding horses through bonfires, throwing animals from towers, setting the horns of bulls on fire, gauging out the eyes of oxen, and suspending squirrels and pigeons in pots that are then pelted with stones. I believe that our religious leaders of all faiths should prioritize the need to stop cruelty to animals wherever it exists.
Politicians should demonstrate by their actions, not just by their words, a commitment to protecting animals from harm. Gov. Pritzker and others can and should do much more to adopt and practice the mindset of the late U.S. Sen. Richard Neuberger who said, “People often ask me why I spend so much time helping animals. I have always believed that cruelty to animals is a black mark in Heaven. I realize animals do not vote. They do not make campaign contributions to enrich the coffers of politicians. But I will be their friend. I imagine he who spoke the sermon on the mount would want it that way too.”
Pope Leo and other religious leaders of all faiths should also do a much better job of protecting animals.
Such a mindset benefits not only the victimized animals, it also benefits people because such kindness helps us to adopt a more compassionate mindset that includes a more sensitive moral consideration for all God’s creations, including humans.
Canandaigua resident Joel Freedman contributes essays and book reviews to the Finger Lakes Times frequently. As an advocate for vulnerable people, animals and our environment, Freedman is a member of many humane organizations, including PETA, SHARK, and the Humane Farming Association.