Source: by Rhonda and Laura Stock from Donkeys Deserve Dignity
Donkey roping is a cruel and completely unnecessary “sport.”
It has come to our attention via the poster shown that a donkey roping event is scheduled for May 25 and 26 in Welch, OK. We stopped ropings in Eden, TX and Van Horne, TX last year. Please send letters and call to get this one stopped too!
The information below will help you in writing an informed letter, and contact names and information are listed. Please keep your messages respectful as it will do a much better job of reaching people (in spite of how angry this makes us all).
Organizers:
Casey Round 918 520 5208 (email:
caseyaround@yahoo.com and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casey.round.3
Dan Conway 806 339 5328 (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hornytoadsaddlery)
Brad Ingram 918 244 3732 (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brad.ingram.946)
Guthrie Murray 918 533 6926
Note that the website WelchOK.com is not actually affiliated with the community of Welch, but is a private site run by someone in the area.
The owner of the site contacted me personally now to ask that we remove his information from the blog post as he has been sent a lot of e-mails.
I am respecting his request as this time he was respectful and reasonable.
Please do not send anymore e-mails to info@welchok.com or to the WelchOK.com webpage.
Please focus on the county sheriff as he is the one who can get something done for us.
I was hoping that the Welch, OK news site could bring attention to this issue with the local community, but it appears that although I was able to reach one local person, the site is not going to help. Thanks, and keep sending letters to the rest of the addresses!
Town contact info:
PO Box 277
Welch, OK 74369
918-788-3616
Mayor is Winston McKeon
Craig County Sheriff: Jimmy Sooter
E-mail: sheriff@junct.com
210 West Delaware Suite 101
Vinita, Oklahoma 74301
(918)256-6466
I have been unable to find actual Chamber of Commerce info for Welch, but have the following info for the county seat of Vinita, OK. You can contact them and tell them that you will not be spending any money or visiting their communities due to the cruelty to animals going on in their county.
Vinita Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 882
Vinita, Oklahoma 74301
Phone:918-256-7133
Fax:918-256-8261
E-Mail:chamber@vinita.com
The following contacts are in state government and both serve on the Tourism Committees. Please write to them to make them aware of the event as well as the cruelty to animals #1685 law that is at the bottom of this blog post. Both of these men represent District 1 that includes Welch. (Thanks to the National Miniature Donkey Association for providing us with these two contacts).
Senator Charles Wyrick
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 535-A
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
Home: 58500 E. 155 Rd.
Fairland, Oklahoma 74343
Representative Curtis McDaniel
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 539-B
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
Home: P.O. Box 366
Smithville, Oklahoma 74957
I will add more contact information as it comes available.
Donkey roping is a cruel and completely unnecessary “sport.” Donkeys are anatomically different from cattle, and their bodies cannot stand up to the rigors of roping the way a steer’s can. Their joints articulate differently, and they have a long cervical spine (neck) that is easily broken when stretched between two horses that weight 3 – 6 times as much as a donkey. In addition, given the length and design of their necks, their windpipes are often crushed during the event. The bones in their legs are often broken as well. Donkeys do not have horns to rope, and often the cartilage of their ears is broken by the ropes or by putting the “hats” on that normally protect a steer.
Roping is an art, and the ropes need to land on the correct locations on the cattle in order to handle them without injury. Donkeys do not have the same locations as a cow does, making it much more likely to cause lasting injuries. Also a donkey’s skin is not the same as a cow’s, and often they end up with necks covered in blisters from the ropes tearing their skin (as shown in the picture below).
Click (HERE) for more information, photos and comments
Categories: Horse News
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
What else does Oklahoma represent or support? The more i learn about that state the less i like it.. That’s pure ignorance!
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Are you kidding me??? How in anyone’s mind (except the BLM) is this OK? I just do not understand mankind any longer….yes, I guess I do…there is no KIND in humans these days!
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You have got to be joking!!!!!! I use to barrel race. I was proud of my horse and his performance. But this was never part of any of the rodeo scenes I was in. This is cruel. And there is suppose to be laws against abuse. But than I guess there really is not many real humans out there who still care about the welfare of animals.
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Welch is very rural. Craig Co. District Attorney 918-256-3320. County Sheriff says it’s cancelled. But since his mother probably runs the event. Grain of salt.
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Just another wonderful example of the hearts and minds of some Oklahomans. A real rancher/rodeo event. Showing their true colors at the expense of animals who once again can’t defend themselves. This is the mind-set and mentality of pro-slaughter advocates. A bunch of pathetic bullies that get their kicks off of the suffering of helpless beings. Yep. That pretty much sums it up!
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Reblogged this on Donkey Whisperer Farm Blog and commented:
We stopped this before we can do it again! Please re-blog and start taking action to say NO TO DONKEY ROPING. GOD bless you and your family two and four-legged! Melody
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This must not happen please if you are reading this take action and re-blog add to all your social media events. Melody
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How about a better alternative
Fort Davis Donkey Daze 2012
WildBurrroProtectLg
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that is a much better way to have some fun, Louie
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Great fun! Not all guys either… but the ladies and kids, too! Love the old pack saddles. Burros have great character!
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We had a blast at Fort Davis Donkey days! The kids enjoyed the donkeys and the store owners reported increased sales from the crowds who there to enjoy the day. We will be back again this year, and hope many of you can join us for high desert fun. SW TX is the last remaining area where wild burros can be found. The burro defines these border communities, and they are under assault from Texas Parks and Wildlife who have been lethally eradicating them since 2007. Wild Burro Protection League, along with Firelight South Ranch have been very active in organizing the residents of the area into fighting back against this wrongheaded policy. Join us in Fort Davis in October for Fort Davis Donkey Daze. Bring your families and lets have fun.
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Correction: Where wild burros can be found IN TEXAS. I did not mean to imply that there were none in the other states. There are 5 other states where they can still be found.
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I will contact those identified above. This is such a disgrace and so very wrong! Ya know I’ve heard the last donkey roping, last week in Texas, went on as planned even though “they” told many that it was cancelled. It would appear they were just trying to shut us all up! Does anyone know for sure if that “event” went on or not? This has got to be stopped once and for all! There is nothing “traditional” about Donkey roping. Just weekend cowboy-wannabes tormenting and abusing yet another innocent animal for absolutely no good reason.
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I agree, Michelle, and it’s probably a better way to raise money.
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If good ol’ Casey and Dan want to rope asses, they should rope each other….ALL DAY LONG.
Geesh! What a bunch of cruel buffoons!
What’s next? Puppies?
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Yes, it did. Col. Folsom, who owned Smoke the donkey he brought back from Iraq, called and spoke with the Marine Outdoor Unit who was slated as a recipiant of the money being raised, and he was told they did not condone it, but yes the roping went on as planned. To me that makes them just as guilty.
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The Sutton County Sheriff’s Dept. told me they were the ones hosting the Combat Marines Outdoors event, including the Donkey Roping, a few miles south of Sonora, TX. The lady who answered the sheriff’s dept. phone told me she’d tell the animal control officer what I’d said, since that officer would be in attendance. sigh… The “Horse Plus Humane Society” followed up to find out exactly what happened, and as far as they know the Donkey Roping did take place, and then a couple of the donkey’s were rescued but the rest were not. Donkey Roping is not recognized as a rodeo event, only a fundraiser. When I was growing up there were a lot of Donkey Basketball fundraisers in the schools. But, I don’t see how they can get away with Donkey Roping because the OK animal cruelty law defines “Horse Tripping” as using anything to cause an equine to lose it’s balance, including a rope.
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I run a large donkey rescue in Plantersville, TX and I can tell you first hand what it means to be a roping donkey. We rescues pick up the pieces of broken lives and bodies from their roping “fun”. We carry the burden of long term medical care for the injuries they sustain. We are the ones tasked with helping these donkeys find a way to trust again which can take years. They are remarkably intelligent animals endowed with a high sense of fairness. So, while they may eventualy forgive, they will never forget. I feel we should be able to sue for damages and long term care rather than allowing these calloused individuals to escape all responsibility for the injuries they cause. I went to the event in Van Horn TX and spoke with Jason Owen the promoter. It never occured to him that they would be harmed. People were so zeolous in their calls he feared for the lives of the animals. One person told him they would rather see the donkeys killed than used for roping. With these cowboy, rural personalities this approach was the wrong one. I invited him out to meet Nellie Jean who we paid to be released along with about twenty others from Dennis Chavez kill pens in NM. She is with us now and her care for her maimed legs is ongoing, and her trust was very slow in getting. I told him about Ol’Man Jack who sees a vet every week, and requires special hoof care. His hocks pop when he walks, and his ears are bent from the helmet the wear. We had many long talks and he agreed to use calves instead. He never would tell us where the donkeys went because he thought they would be harmed. What many do not understand is that these events require the donkey or calf to be run through and roped around the neck and hind legs up to 40 times a day for the weekend. On the first day there were 20 calves, on the second day 18 were left because two had died. Make no mistake about it, this is a violent “sport”. No living being should be totured like this. OK law has clear cutanimal cruelty laws. It will require the law to force them to uphold the law. In Welch the person will need to come from outside the county because the sheriff is involved in this event. Threatening to not drop tourism dollars is a joke to them. This is ranching country.
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I believe you should be able to sue the owners and a vet should be at these horror shows who is there for the donkey’s and not the organization so that he/she can take the donkeys from the roping and send them to rescue and never return them to those owners. A vet can do this without the humane society can’t they? We need more state laws on the books, too.
This must be stopped along with horse tripping. People have lost their values and respect for the animals that once made all the difference in the lives of rural people.
Thank you, Miss Abby, for being out there and standing for the donkeys, and for this additional sad information.
Man only thinks he over powers nature. Nature will have the last word on all of us.
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More contacts:
Head of the Oklahoma HSUS:
Cynthia Armstrong
carmstrong@humanesociety.org
and
http://www.okhumane.org/about/contact-information
(easy form to notify them)
Sample letter:
I am writing to notify you of a planned illegal activity in your state and urge you to take appropriate steps to stop it before it happens.
By Oklahoma’s own laws, this activity is illegal.
(http://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/cruelty/ok_cruel.htm):
1685. Cruelty to animals
“Any person who shall willfully or maliciously overdrive, overload, torture, destroy or kill, or cruelly beat or injure, maim or mutilate, any animal in subjugation or captivity, whether wild or tame, and whether belonging to himself or to another, or deprive any such animal of necessary food, drink or shelter; or who shall cause, procure or permit any such animal to be so overdriven, overloaded, tortured, destroyed or killed, or cruelly beaten or injured, maimed or mutilated, or deprived of necessary food, drink or shelter; or who shall willfully set on foot, instigate, engage in, or in any way further any act of cruelty to any animal, or any act tending to produce such cruelty, shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary.”
I request that you investigate and do everything within your power to stop this donkey roping activity including notify the sheriff of this illegal activity within his jurisdiction and urge him to arrest the participants and organizers on grounds of cruelty to animals per the Oklahoma law if they proceed. Thank you.
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The OK law against Horse Tripping makes it clear that you can’t use anything to cause and equine to lose it’s balance, including a rope. Also, it’s illegal in OK to promote, work at, or attend a Horse Tripping event. Maybe the OK Attorney General would make a written statement statement, or at least write a letter, that says Donkey Roping is Horse Tripping. Would Horse Tripping be legal in OK if they roped the horse’s neck as well as it’s feet? No.
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Thank you for post this info, Grandma Gregg. I had to write my response above from the ranch on my phone and did not have access to these contacts from there so that I could post them. I should have known I could count on you! I spoke with Scott Beckstead of the HSUS in Oregon and he said we should contact Cynthia. HSUS has the clout and and legal department to stop this. Calling the people in Welch seems to be only causing them to dig in deeper.
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in a quote from chris rock that would apply here “(hunting) is not a sport. in a sport both sides know they are playing”.
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Here’s the OK animal cruelty law against Horse Tripping, scroll down to pages 9 and 10 where it says “1700 Bear Wrestling – Horse Tripping.” http://www.oda.state.ok.us/forms/ogc/anc.pdf At the bottom of pg 9 it says, “As used in this section, “horse tripping” means to cause an animal of the equine species to fall or lose its balance with the use of a wire, pole,stick, rope or other object.” It also says it’s illegal to promote, engage in, attend, or receive money for someone else to attend a Horse Tripping event. It’s illegal to sell, purchase, possess or offer a horse for a Horse Tripping event.
So, to me it’s pretty clear that Donkey Roping involves “causing an animal of the equine species to fall or lose it’s balance with the use of a……..rope.” Now, how to get it enforced, is the question. And, by the way, if you click on the link above for the Facebook page of Brad Ingram, you’ll see two posts that indicate they’re going ahead with the Donkey Roping. https://www.facebook.com/brad.ingram.946 At the top of the page is a post in which he’s referring to Donkey Roping as “cow milking” or “roping” and the special rules he’s made for the “cow milking.” Then scroll down and you’ll see where he’s not changing anything for some “lettuce eatin’ bitch” so they’re going ahead with the Donkey Roping, and everyone posts comments in the thread about how they can’t wait to “r
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What an arrogant creep Brad Ingram is. This is just my humble opinion of course. I am not a vegan tho I am getting closer to vegetarian again every day.
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http://www.thln.org/index.cfm?pageID=C9FF0502-3048-C277-1120AD1D8EB7C67E
TEXAS HUMANE LEGISLATION NETWORK
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This roping was cancelled a long time ago.
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One of the other organizers of the donkey roping, Brad Ingram said “well I am done I will not let anyone dictate what I do we will be roping donkeys and we will have a blast any problems if so piss off”.
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Perhaps we need to send Brad Ingram a bill for the ongoing medical bills incurred by his actions that he refers to as as “a blast”.
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If Brad thinks it is all about him, he needs to think again. When he is done “having a blast”, rescue such as ours TMR Rescue, will be picking up the pieces. Perhaps we should send him a bill. Nellie Jean, Ol’ Man Jack, Doc Holliday, and numerous others have ongoing medical bills, I will be happy to have him pay those bills for us.
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Miss Abby-
Not to mention the often irreversible mental and emotional damage they cause with this animal cruelty in addition to the physical damage … as you only know too well. Many people are trying to stop this and public awareness is a part of it. Thank you for what you do. Many many thanks.
-Grandma
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Those that we have at our rescue (240 donkeys, mules and horses) who have been abused in this way, will never be adoptable. They are in permanent sanctuary here. Mentally, most take a great deal of time, sometime years as was the case with Ol’ Man Jack, to accept human kindness of any kind. Once they give us their trust it is always guarded, and strangers are not welcomed by them at all. It is like they suffer from a form of PTSD.
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There’s men….and then there’s MEN. All depends on what they have inside and what they decide to do with it:
The REAL Horse Whisperer
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Reblogged this on WILD HORSE HUB CENTRAL and commented:
Nothing to ad. Thank you.
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Does anyone know if this burro roping DID or DID NOT actually happen last weekend?
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THEY DID HAVE THEIR DONKEY ROPING!
http://donkeysdeservedignity.weebly.com/1/post/2013/03/fight-donkey-roping.html
Brad Ingram welch ok
05/27/2013 7:36am
well the donkey roping was a success none of the donkeys where hurt and none of the ropers and only 1 protester showed up see u next year
brad
05/27/2013 8:21pm
well Rhonda we got these donks from several places we wormed them we fed them we took care of them they was 20 to 30 plbs bigger when we roped them I got a few that would come to me before and after the roping same donkeys so u tell me more about mentally hurt butt not now cus im done till next year
brad
05/29/2013 7:47pm
great I like donkeys 2 I respect them I feed them I take care of them I payed 4 them they are mine don’t ever tell me what I can or can not do with them so u respect me until u can do something about it do not bug me until then im gone till next year
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