“I permitted an event to an animal abuser. I did,” interim DeKalb County Administrator Derek Hiland said of an Aug. 2 rodeo in Kirkland.

It’s the third time that Hiland signed off on a rodeo permit for Cristofer Perez, and the second time that footage of the event is being investigated by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. But it’s the first time that the permit was issued while Perez is under court supervision after pleading guilty to animal cruelty earlier this year in connection with the two permitted events in 2024, records show.

Chicago-based advocacy group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness captured videos of all three Mexican-style rodeos at 2979 Scout Road in Kirkland. SHARK drone footage of the Aug. 2 rodeo appears to show steer-tailing events where animals suffered severed tails and broken legs, participants prodding animals with sharpened sticks, and injured animals being stepped on in crowded pens.

“It happens at every single steer-tailing event. Animals are de-gloved. Their tails [are] ripped off their bodies. They have their bones broken. They’re tortured,” SHARK Campaign Director Jodie Wiederkehr said.

Steer-tailing, or coleadero, is where a horseback rider chases a running steer, grabs onto its tail, and wraps the tail around the rider’s leg to slam the animal to the ground. It’s banned in Columbia, Nebraska, and parts of California and Colorado.

In the past few years, these widely criticized events have popped up in several other northern Illinois counties, including Will, Boone, Ogle and McHenry. SHARK provided officials in each county with footage of the events that appear to show horses and steers being hit in the face, tripped, prodded and run after injuries such as severed tails and broken legs.

In all cases, county officials said they’ve struggled to regulate the events for a myriad of reasons. Many have blamed Illinois’ broad animal protection laws. Steer-tailing is not illegal under Illinois law. But animal abuse is.

[ Northern Illinois counties struggle to regulate Mexican-style rodeos, steer-tailing events in their area ]

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said his office is investigating footage provided by SHARK of the August Kirkland rodeo, but it is “not yet at that point” where charges would be filed or an arrest made.

Sullivan’s office also investigated July and September 2024 permitted rodeos in Kirkland with SHARK-provided footage. The probe resulted in charges filed in DeKalb County against Perez, the permit holder, on Oct. 11, 2024, court records show.

Perez was charged with two counts of violating owner duties under the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act, a Class B misdemeanor for his first violation, court records show. A second violation of the act would be a Class 4 felony.

On April 18, Perez pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor. DeKalb County Associate Judge Stephanie Klein ordered Perez to pay a $514 fine and sentenced him to court supervision until April 17, 2026, records show.

When reached by Shaw Local, Perez declined to comment.

Concerns about continued permitting

Many DeKalb County officials thought the issue was resolved in 2024.

“We were under the impression that it was being taken care of,” said DeKalb County Board member Rukisha Crawford, a Democrat.

But steer-tailing practices in Kirkland were, for the second year in a row, a major point of contention at the board’s Aug. 20 meeting.

“I am going to express how deeply disappointed I am with our inability to stop” these steer-tailing events, Sycamore resident Mary Hash said.

“What they’re doing is horrific,” Hash said.

At the August rodeo, five steers were de-gloved and two suffered serious leg injuries, SHARK President Steve Hindi alleged.

“One steer had his leg shattered. His bone was exposed while in a pen being shuffled with four or five other injured animals,” Wiederkehr said.

“It’s ridiculous that this keeps happening,” Republican County Board member Joseph Marcinkowski said.

“We should not be giving them a permit,” Crawford said, adding that she believes the county’s ordinances or policies need to be changed.

Republican County Board Chair John Frieders said he believes people should take their concerns to state legislators.

“They have control,” Frieders said. “They can outlaw steer-tailing.”

He said Hiland followed legal guidelines when issuing a land-use permit for the rodeo.

DeKalb County’s permit process

DeKalb County government code says that temporary permits for events such as a rodeo don’t require board approval and are issued by the community development director.

Hiland has held that role for the past 10 years. He’s also serving as interim county administrator.

Under the code, this type of permit can only be issued twice a year to the same property and should outline conditions related to “public health, safety and traffic” if needed. The applicant must then comply with those conditions.

Hiland said he can’t deny Perez the permit “until the law says” he can.

SHARK’s footage of the 2024 Kirkland rodeos – reviewed by Shaw Local – appears to show participants hitting animals, injured animals still being used in events, and steer-tailing events resulting in severed tails and broken legs or horns. One clip appears to show two men roughly biting a steer’s tail and shocking the steer with an electric prod while the animal tries to jump away in a closed chute.

To date, a judge hasn’t ruled that Perez can’t hold a rodeo. The only conditions of his court-ordered supervision are that he can’t break any laws and must pay the fine before Jan. 30, records show.

Before Hiland issued the permit, Perez’s application was reviewed by other county departments, and several conditions were added to protect animals.

Sullivan said that he “did object to the permit being issued.”

In 2024, Sullivan publicly condemned Perez’s Kirkland rodeo events.

Each permit that’s been issued to Perez has had more conditions than the one before. The permit for the Aug. 2 rodeo, issued July 29, had several conditions. Eight of them were related to rodeo participants and animals. Perez signed an agreement to follow them, documents show.

Permit conditions, alleged violations

Related to animals, the permit requires a veterinarian to be on-site for the duration of the event and another to be on call if an injury occurs. Only flags and paddle shakers are to be used to move cattle. Electrical devices aren’t allowed. Events must end at 5:30 p.m., and water stations must be provided.

As for participants, the permit requires them to wear visible identification and register with their name and contact information. It also requires Perez to conduct that registration and disqualify those refusing to register, but it doesn’t specify if that contact information should be provided to a county official or agency, records show.

Hiland said the county never got any rodeo participant information.

Other permit conditions relate to parking, sanitation, and food and drink vendor permits. It also imposes a limit of 400 people.

If Perez violates those conditions, “that’s on him,” Hiland said.

Hindi alleged that Perez violated “every one of them.”

A review of SHARK footage appears to show that participants didn’t wear any form of identification. Hiland said participants wore small name tags that “would be a violation” due to tag size.

Hindi alleged that there was no on-site vet, and he questioned the legality of the on-call vet.

“The vet element became very awkward,” Hiland said.

In a June 30 permit application, Perez wrote that he would rent animals from Meyer Livestock Co. in Iowa, and “since they’re going to be under my care, I got a vet to be on-site that day.”

One of the conditions of the issued permit shows Meyer Livestock would provide an on-site veterinarian, but it didn’t identify who that was.

None of Perez’s written communication with the county about the rodeo appear to include him identifying an on-site vet, records show.

The issued permit names an Elburn vet as on call. But shortly after the permit was issued, that vet told the county that they wouldn’t be involved with the rodeo, records show.

Leading up to the day of the rodeo, Hiland exchanged several emails with Perez, urging him to provide confirmation of an Illinois-licensed vet to be on call or his permit would be “at risk” of being revoked. The day before the event, Dr. Randall J. Peabody of Wisconsin confirmed that he would be on call, records show.

During the event, the Elburn vet was contacted by Perez and asked to come treat an injured horse. Over the phone, that vet gave Perez instructions for how to care for the horse, but the vet was not able to leave work to treat the animal, according to emails between the vet and Hiland.

Hiland said the horse eventually was treated by Peabody.

In Illinois, vets are licensed through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and mandated by law to hold an active license to practice in the state. According to the IDFPR‘s records, Peabody does not hold an active license.

Peabody did not respond to Shaw Local’s request for comment.

“What’s the problem?” Marcinkowski said. “Why aren’t we holding them accountable for alleged illegal actions?”

Hiland said permit violations are handled by his department. But officials often only find out about violations if an event results in an emergency response because the county “doesn’t have the resources” to directly monitor it, he said.

Repeated violations could result in future permit applications being denied, Hiland said.

“At the end of the day, the board makes the policy” for issuing permits, Hiland said.

Possible solution?

In Ogle County, a rodeo near Rochelle operates under a permit issued in 2012 that remains intact unless conditions are violated and a board vote revokes it, Ogle County Zoning Administrator Mark Miller said.

The Boone County Board updated its ordinances in 2024 following SHARK’s activism. The updated code says permits are only issued if they include an “animal safety plan” reviewed by a licensed veterinarian, and event participants provide contact information to the county, among other things.

Wiederkehr said because several counties are now “making it difficult” to get a permit, some rodeos will operate without one.

But one county has had success at the local level: Will.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Toni Renken said she believes that action taken in late 2023 by the Will County Sheriff’s Office deterred rodeo activity in the area.

On May 23, 2024, Will County sheriff’s Detective R.J. Austin hand-delivered a letter to the owner of Meyer Livestock Co., which was supplying animals to a Joliet rodeo. The letter, written by officials with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, said the Iowa company would be responsible for every animal in its care crossing state lines.

The Illinois and federal departments of agriculture require animals to have specific health records when crossing state lines.

“[The company] was afraid of being in trouble with the USDA,” Austin said.

So the steers stopped coming to Will County.

Instead, they’ve come to DeKalb County. According to the Aug. 2 rodeo permit, Meyer Livestock is the same company that rented steers to Perez.