Keeping Cattle Atop a Trailer Should Result in Prosecution, Says PETA

Outcry After Steer Reportedly Breaks Leg, Buffalo Dies, Possibly After Fall From Trailer Top

For Immediate Release:
July 8, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

In response to reports that a buffalo died at rodeo-themed restaurant Hogs N Horses in Cave Creek, PETA posted an action alert today on its popular website encouraging visitors to ask restaurant owner T.C. Thorstenson to desist from placing any animal on top of the “Buffalo Express” trailer kept at that site. The buffalo who died just days ago was displayed on the trailer top as an advertisement before he was found dead and is widely believed to have fallen from the trailer. Before that, a steer is reported to have fallen off the trailer ramp and broken his leg.

“It’s cruel and possibly even illegal to trap an animal on top of a metal vehicle in the Arizona sun with no shelter—the animal could fall to his or her death just by taking a few steps in any direction,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “PETA wants such cruel and dangerous displays stopped.”

In the alert, which also calls on Thorstenson to agree that no animal will be displayed on top of the trailer or in any similarly cruel manner in the future, PETA points to the obvious dangers inherent in having an approximately 1,000-pound animal atop a narrow strip of metal and notes that leaving animals like that in the summer heat with no access to shade and only a few feet in which to balance causes them extreme distress, discomfort, and anxiety.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.