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August 20, 2013

Conflict of interest cited as motivating factor for false reporting/non-treatment of injured animals

Watch the video showing the injured animals at the 2013 rodeo here:
 

SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) today filed two complaints with the Veterinary Medical Board of California against Tim Eastman, the veterinarian of record for the California Rodeo Salinas. The first complaint deals with his underreporting of the number of injured animals, while the second deals with his lack of care for those same injured animals.

In his report of injuries that is mandated by state law, Eastman stated that only three animals were injured.  SHARK, however, video-documented twenty-three animals that had been injured during the rodeo. A video showing each of these injured animals has been published on YouTube.

California law (4830.8 of the Business and Professions Code) states that "attending or on-call veterinarians at a rodeo event are required to report to the Veterinary Medical Board any animal injury at the event requiring veterinary treatment within 48 hours of the conclusion of the rodeo."

On the California Veterinary Medical Board website (http://www.vmb.ca.gov/consumers/comp_inf.shtml) it states that "Anyone who witnesses or believes that a licensed veterinarian or unlicensed person's behavior or activities may cause harm (or the potential for harm) to animal patients or may be illegal, can file a complaint." 

"If Eastman allowed up to twenty animals who suffered visible injuries to go untreated, then his behavior caused them harm," states SHARK President Steve Hindi. "If he did treat the animals, then his filing with the California Veterinary Medical Board was false. Either way, we believe he violated the law."
 
SHARK has also discovered that Eastman's ties to the rodeo may have played a significant role in him wanting to protect the public image of the rodeo by downplaying the cruelty present at the rodeo.  According to the California Rodeo, Inc.'s 2011 IRS  form 990, Eastman was not only listed as being on the Board of Directors, but that he had family members on the Board as well.  The document can be downloaded here: http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/orgs/profile/940361165?popup=1#forms
 

"Tim Eastman, Board Director and Veterinarian for the California Rodeo Salinas, seems to have cared more about the well-being of the rodeo's public image than about the suffering of nearly two-dozen animals," states Hindi. "That's the brutal nature of rodeo. It is long past time that the veterinarians who whitewash rodeo cruelty are held accountable for their actions."
 
The two complaints can be viewed on the following links:
 
 
Contact: Steve Hindi – 630 640 1889/Stuart Chaifetz – 856 428 2635

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