In the March 5 Sauk Valley news article, “Animal cruelty charges in McHenry County could change how backyard rodeos operate across northern Illinois,” several Illinois state’s attorneys suggested that prosecuting acts associated with steer tailing is difficult because no statute specifically names the practice.

That explanation is difficult to reconcile with the plain language of the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act, which states: “No person or owner may beat, cruelly treat, torment, overwork, or otherwise abuse any animal.”

The law was written broadly so cruelty can be prosecuted even when a particular activity is not explicitly listed in statute.

Documented evidence from unsanctioned steer tailing events clearly shows animals being beaten, shocked with high-voltage electric prods, forced to run despite injury, struck with spurs, and violently pulled to the ground by their tails.

Conduct of this nature falls squarely within behavior the Humane Care for Animals Act was designed to prohibit.

When elected prosecutors claim such conduct is legally difficult to address, it suggests not a gap in Illinois law but a troubling reluctance to apply the animal cruelty statute already on the books.

That reluctance is exactly why SB45 – which would explicitly prohibit dragging or pulling bovines by their tails – is now imperative.

Kelleigh Miller, Oregon