IS IT RIGHT TO MAKE SPORT OF ANIMALS’ FEAR & PAIN?
“The Success of rodeos inevitably rests on the exploitation of animals’ reactions to pain, noise and fear and the animal’s desire to escape.”
-- Canadian Veterinary Association’s Statement on Rodeos
CALF ROPING
“When a calf is running full bore, and the rope stops him really fast...if you put that around my neck, it would hurt me, so I know it hurts the calves.”
-- John Grownley, 1999 Stock Contractor of the Year, Monterey Herald
“The result is severed tracheas, broken necks, ruptured ligaments that hold the head to the body, internal injury [and] broken bones.”
-- Dr. Peggy Larson, a former bareback bronc rider, Monterey Herald
The PRCA controls all aspects of what is televised...You won’t see the calf’s head snap back in calf roping when the cowboy’s rope is taut. “We’re really sensitive to people who might have a problem with calf roping. We’re trying to generate more fans, so we don’t want to be overly showcased.”
-- PRCA Commissioner Steve Hatchell, Las Vegas Review
Violence Is the Basis of Rodeos
Animals in rodeos are subjected to roping, prodding, kicking, whipping, spur-raking and ear- and- tail twisting, all causing pain, fear and stress.
The Canadian Veterinary Association stated in 1985, “[t]he Success of rodeos inevitably rests on the exploitation of animals’ reactions to pain, noise and fear and the animal’s desire to escape.” Yet Rowell Ranch Rodeo Committee Chair, Russ Fields, told KGO-TV, Channel 7 News, on May 19, 2018, “animals don’t feel fear” because “they’re an animal.”
Rodeos can’t even begin to treat animals humanely if the people running the rodeo lack basic understanding that animals have feelings and feel fear and pain. It’s simply wrong for a civilized society to make sport of an animal’s fear and pain.
As the public is educated about the inherent abuse of animals by rodeos more people are finding Rodeos distasteful and more municipalities -including Los Angeles- are considering bans on rodeos or the pain causing equipment used in rodeos, such as flank straps and spurs.