Canadian rodeo stock contractor Greg Kesler of Helena, Montana, has been charged with two counts of smuggling rodeo bulls into the United States.
He appeared in a U.S. district court in Missoula, Mont., June 3 to answer to the charges and plead not guilty.
A trial date was not set at that time.
The American government alleges that on June 23, 2003, and Jan. 8, 2004, Kesler defied a U.S. import ban on Canadian ruminants that had been put in place after BSE was discovered in Canada in May 2003.
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The charges brought by assistant U.S. attorney Josh Van de Wetering claim Kesler fraudulently imported 24 higher-end rodeo bulls in the June incident and six in the second at the U.S. Port of Del Bonita near Del Bonita, Alta.
If convicted on the charges, the 59-year-old Kesler could pay a $250,000 US fine and spend five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Five rodeo bulls owned by Greg and son Duane Kesler of Helena and McGrath, Alta., are registered with rodeo organizations as having been ridden at the Taber Pro Rodeo in Taber, Alta., on May 23, 2003, and at as many as seven American rodeos since then.
On May 23, 2003, Quentin Gisler of Keremeos, B.C., rode the Keslers’ West Coast Tornado to a score of 79 in Taber.
According to professional rodeo statistics, West Coast Tornado bucked off Fred Boettcher of Tomah, Wisconsin, on March 16, 2004, after 5.9 seconds in the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho.
Acting on a tip at the Pocatello rodeo, the Idaho brand inspector sent officers to check for the Canadian bulls and their documentation at that event.
The bulls were found to have “what appeared to be insufficient paperwork to be in the United States” and were sent back to Montana, said brand inspector Larry Hayhurst.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Homeland Security investigated the incident, along with the Montana Department of Livestock.
According to the Probullstats.com website that tracks North American bull riding statistics, five bulls from the Kesler’s company that competed in Taber were later ridden in the U.S.: West Coast Tornado, Thumbs Up, Universal, Adios and Bedrock.
Thirty animals have been placed in quarantine on the Kesler ranch north of Helena.
Hayhurst said the risk spreading BSE in the U.S. is “not an issue.”
“The sad thing about this is that there is no risk to human health here,” he said.
Kesler was released from custody on his own recognizance.
