One of the most amazing things we can ever experience is to observe wild animals in their natural habitat, but something has gone very wrong in the City of Rising Sun, Indiana, the home of a sadistic event called Snapperfest.
Event contestants grab a wild snapping turtle by its tail, run down a field while dangling the turtle upside-down, they throw the turtle to the ground, and then they try to pull the turtle’s head out of its shell. Once the head of the terrified animal has been violently dislodged from its shell, the victorious thug swings the turtle by its neck in triumph. Sometimes a turtle will latch onto its abuser and in order to free the brute’s hand or finger from the turtle’s mouth; the so-called referee will slit the turtle’s throat.
A turtle should never be picked up by the tail because that can cause spinal and internal injuries. Many turtles suffer from shock and die a slow, agonizing death. The organizers claim no turtles are hurt and that the event is just good, clean, family fun. Fun for whom? Certainly not for the turtles.
The people in the City of Rising Sun, Indiana, are anthropocentric. They believe wild animals exist for the amusement of humans and it appears the police and game wardens are totally onside with this so called “sport”.
Snapperfest has flown under the radar for years, but this abuse will no longer be tolerated. Animal lovers are just getting started. Tourists who are thinking about a vacation to Indiana, the City of Rising Sun, or the Campshore Campground will be inundated with information on the internet about this barbaric place and I expect many people will do the right thing and bypass the region entirely until reason and compassion reign over brutality.
The Snapperfest banner was co-branded by their sponsor, Budweiser, but when the complaints started, the boys at Bud were quick to distance themselves from the event. Budweiser claims they did not sponsor the event and they blame a local company in the supply chain, but Budweiser is unable or unwilling to say who authorized the sponsorship. Their implication is that determining who authorized the banner or the financial support would be a monumental challenge.
It would appear that banners, their design, and their origin confuse Budweiser so a very helpful guy was kind enough to design a special banner for Snapperfest and Budweiser. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
For the Animals,
Janice
Janice Oceans (on Facebook)
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