In the Sunday, January 13 edition of the New York Post, columnist Phil Mushnick's "Primetime" column goes after televised rodeos. He writes, "there's no squaring any entertainment-for-profit predicated on antagonizing animals. Yet, Fox Sports Net's latest, desperate attempt to further attract and desensitize a young, male audience - this time through 'The Toughest Cowboy Presented By Jagermeister' - is predicated on exactly that."

He writes that he had hoped that in 2008, "TV would reject excessive animal abuse." But, "I didn't make it past Jan. 4, the X-treme rodeo show's TV debut."

He notes the "Enormous horses and bulls in unhappy frenzies" and writes,
"While this is the life the cowboys chose, it's hard to believe that this is the life the animals would prefer that Fox Sports executives select for them."

You'll find the whole piece on line at
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01132008/tv/primetime_805001.htm?page=0

Please take this opportunity to write a quick letter to the editor about rodeos and the abuse of animals for entertainment -- appreciative of Mushnick's comments. The Post takes letters at letters@nypost.com or http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/letters_editor.htm

Include your name, address and phone number.

I send thanks to Claire for making sure we saw this.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)