It’s time to ban cruel rodeo events at the Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede, like all rodeos, is a cruel spectacle of animal abuse. Fear, pain and stress are used to coerce animals into performing for the entertainment of human beings – a barbaric concept. Yet here in Canada, in the 21st century, we offer this as a tourist attraction and as a symbol of our culture.

We’re asking compassionate Canadians to urge the Stampede to drop these events. It’s time for the Stampede to listen to Canadians who oppose abusing animals for entertainment. Below are some of the inhumane rodeo events that should be eliminated from the Stampede’s program.

The cruelty of fear

All cattle are “prey” animals and research has shown they are particularly sensitive to fear. Dr. Temple Grandin, the distinguished animal behaviourist, has written that fear is “so bad” for animals it can be worse than pain. There can be little doubt that a three-month-old calf, goaded and chased into an arena with a shouting crowd is suffering even before the rope pulls him off his feet. How can tormenting an animal in this way be acceptable as entertainment? Treating a dog this way would result in cruelty charges. Sadly, farm animals in Canada have no such legal protection – apparently even when they are used for mere entertainment.

The myth of rodeo’s old west heritage

Rodeo promoters will say that calf-roping and other rodeo events are part of the culture of the old west. But when real cowboys roped calves on the range there was no pressure from a stopwatch or big prize money. It was done as gently as possible to ensure the animal was not injured. The myth of rodeo’s old west “heritage” has been used with other events. Real cowboys did not ride bulls (Why would they?) or wrestle steers (invented for rodeo in the 1930s) or have chuckwagon races (invented for rodeo in 1923). Rodeo has almost nothing to do with the culture of the old west. It is merely sensational entertainment – and it causes animals to suffer for the most trivial of purposes.