December 21, 2022

Dear Friends and Supporters,

As usual every year, SHARK has accomplished so much for the animals that we have to break up our year-end email update into parts. You can go online and see the entire mailer at one time here.

SHARK is overjoyed that our work exposing the horrific conditions the dogs at Envigo were forced to endure led to their release! It should have happened decades earlier, but other animal organizations with millions of dollars and large staff located not far from Envigo, did nothing about the suffering and dying dogs at Envigo until SHARK exposed it in 2017 (see video here). Yet, these groups claimed all the credit for the rescue of these dogs, resulting in massive donations for them, while SHARK continues to struggle financially.

While the demise of the Envigo facility may seem like a miracle to some, for SHARK, it is a continuation of a long pattern. 

Since 2008, when SHARK introduced drones into the animal protection movement, we have routed animal abusers, including the following:

* SHARK, working with the Humane Farming Association, has caused the biggest disruption of cockfighting in history in multiple states, including Kentucky, Oklahoma, Alabama, California, Ohio, Illinois, Texas and more.

* Exposed and shut down US Senator Jim Inhofe's live pigeon shoot fundraisers.

* Exposed and shut down the Alabama Forestry Association’s live pigeon shoot fundraisers in Alabama.

* Exposed and shut down a large pit bull operation in Illinois.

* Working with Fish Feel, SHARK documented and exposed the tournament slaughter of cownose rays in the Chesapeake Bay, resulting in a law banning the contest killing of these beautiful animals.

* Worked with Big Cat Rescue to expose Jeff and Lauren Lowe's zoo of starving and dying animals, and pressured authorities to take action to remove all the animals and shut it down.

SHARK using drones to document a November 2022 Boone County, IL Mexican Rodeo (right)

* Exposed live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania and shutting the majority of them down.

* Working with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, SHARK exposed dairy factory farms in California.

* Filmed Marshall Farms (now Marshall BioResources) beagle breeding operation in North Rose, NY for the world to see.

* Exposed live pigeon shoots in Maryland, culminating in a law to ban them.

* Exposed rodeo animal abuse at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo, including the shocking of horses, resulting in the rodeo stock contractor being fined.

* Working with the Humane Farming Association, SHARK exposed Central Valley Eggs - a major factory egg-laying operation in California.

* SHARK's most recent drone operation has documented cruel and deadly Mexican rodeos, including brutal steer tailing events, and rodeo contestants mercilessly whipping and beating their own horses!
SHARK documenting an Illinois pitbull operation (left)

* Working with Last Chance for Animals founder Chris DeRose, SHARK exposed the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC), where animals are experimented on and killed using tax dollars.

* These are just a few of SHARK’s many drone operations. You can see more on our YouTube account at www.youtube.com/sharkonlineorg

WHY AREN’T MORE DRONES BEING USED IN ANIMAL PROTECTION?

Given the incredible results that SHARK’s drones have accomplished over the past fifteen years, it is inconceivable that virtually every organization working on outdoor issues doesn’t have its own drone fleet.

There are lots of very wealthy organizations claiming to work
on factory farms issues, animal rescues and other outdoor issues who don’t bother to use the most effective tool available - the drone. They aren't willing to invest the time, money and hard work required to increase their effectiveness and results for the animals.

I am frankly stunned that no matter how many times we prove how invaluable this technology is in animal protection, organizations that have hundreds of times our resources refuse to use the best, most effective techniques.

SHARK’s drone video of tigers at the Lowe Zoo,
followed by the removal of big cats from the zoo 

SHARK saw the promise of drones fifteen years ago. We’ve been on the cutting edge of harnessing this incredible technology ever since. SHARK is made up of just a half-dozen people, and we have very few resources. That being the case, it is vital that every individual is as productive as possible, and using drones is one way that we accomplish that level of productivity.

DRONES ARE JUST PART OF SHARK’S APPROACH TO ANIMAL PROTECTION!

While drones are an invaluable part of our operation, we have many more tools at our disposal, including long-range and undercover cameras, boats, and hovercraft. In the hands of SHARK investigators, the humble video camera has exposed rodeos and other cruelty nationwide.

Our results happen because we work in the killing fields, the arenas of torture, and on the mean streets, which is unfortunately something most organizations refuse to do.      

     
From August to October, SHARK’s drones recorded eight Mexican rodeos in Illinois, also called charreadas. Our drones have filmed steers endlessly shocked, used over and over as many as twenty times in one day.

Animals with various injuries including broken backs, broken legs, and broken horns were left to suffer completely unattended, with no veterinary care.

Steers are repeatedly abused during a Boone Cty, IL Mexican Rodeo in a “Steer Tailing” event 

In an October rodeo, one paralyzed steer was dragged out of the arena by his horns, and even this profoundly injured animal was left to suffer. Adding to the cruelty, were the contestants mercilessly beating their own horses for failed runs in which it was those contestants, not their hapless steeds, who failed to perform!

There are literally hundreds of cruelty violations at these rodeos. 
Unfortunately, laws are only as good as the people behind them, and the lesson that is undeniable is that Illinois, in the final analysis, is not much

better than Kentucky. We aim to change that, and I promise you that in a year this situation will look very different, as we have started a campaign to ban steer tailing not just in Illinois, but nationwide.


Arena being prepared for a Boone County, IL
Mexican Rodeo“Steer Tailing”

What lies before us is another major campaign, as we deal with this throughout Illinois, and then move against these events in other parts of the country. SHARK is now pushing for a statewide ban on cruel steer tailing events at the state level.

This added to our ongoing efforts against American rodeos, pigeon shoots, cockfights, dogs bred for experimentation and the other work we do is far more than we can handle, but we will do our very best with your help.