Category: rodeo

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animal welfare cruelty News/Blog Promoted rodeo

Great news: Abbotsford rodeo cancelled!

073115 - Abbotsford, BC Chung Chow photo 2015 Agrifair Rodeo in Abbotsford. Steer wrestling
This won’t be happening at the Abbotsford Agrifair

 

The Abbotsford Agrifair’s rodeo has been cancelled.  Organizers say the decision to cancel the rodeo was made to save money, but the event has been surrounded in controversy because of the inhumane treatment of rodeo animals.

VHS has been campaigning against the Abbotsford rodeo for years, calling media and public attention to cruel events like calf-roping and steer-wrestling. Last year, nearly 2000 VHS supporters emailed the Agrifair to call for an end to such events.  VHS also contacted the rodeo’s sponsors, asking them to end their support.  Our campaign, backed by radio ads and social media reached thousands of Abbotsford residents and compassionate people across the province.  Clearly, the message is getting through: There is no place in the 21st century for events that abuse animals for the sake of entertainment.

This is the second B.C. rodeo to fold after campaigns by VHS.  In 2015, the Luxton Rodeo on Vancouver Island was also cancelled.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our campaigns against rodeo cruelty.  With your help, we’ll continue this fight.  Watch this space!

 

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Poll shows BC is turning against rodeo

073115 - Abbotsford, BC Chung Chow photo 2015 Agrifair Rodeo in Abbotsford. Calf roping. Red shirts were responsible for releasing the tied down calves.

We’re changing hearts and minds in the battle against rodeo cruelty in B.C.

A new public opinion survey by polling company Insights West shows that 62% of British Columbians are opposed to using animals in rodeos.  That’s up six percentage points from a 2013 Insights West poll on the same issue which showed 56% opposed.

The new poll also found that only 32% of B.C. residents are in favour of using animals in rodeos, down from 38% in 2013. Clearly, public opinion is moving against rodeo.

In 2005, an Ipsos-Reid poll commissioned by VHS showed that a majority (61%) of people in B.C. supported rodeos and 32% were opposed.  The times they are a-changin’!

VHS has been campaigning against rodeo cruelty for many years, helping to end calf-roping, steer-wrestling and team-roping at the Cloverdale Rodeo, securing a ban on rodeos in the City of Vancouver and partnering with Victoria Citizens Against Rodeo Events to put an end to the Luxton Rodeo on Vancouver Island.

The new poll also showed that even in Alberta, home of the Calgary Stampede and the heartland of rodeo, only 55% of residents are in favour of using animals in rodeos. A strong minority, 39%, are opposed. Our campaign against animal cruelty at the Stampede is having an impact!

The poll also showed that large majorities in B.C. are opposed to hunting animals for sport (91%) and killing animals for their fur (81%).

VHS has worked hard to expose inhumane rodeo events in the media, gaining substantial coverage every year.  This year, the Vancouver Sun became the first newspaper in Canada to take an editorial position against rodeo, stating that:

“The Vancouver Humane Society for years has been leading the charge against rodeo events such as calf roping, steer wrestling and chuckwagon racing, based on a premise that these activities subject animals to fear, pain, stress and the risk of injury or death, for no greater purpose than the entertainment of spectators.”

We’re going to continue that charge and with your support we know we can win. As these polls show, people are waking up to the cruelty involved in rodeo and they want it to end.

073115 - Abbotsford, BC Chung Chow photo 2015 Agrifair Rodeo in Abbotsford. Bronco riding Bronco refused to get up until motivated by the cowboy behind the fence.

 

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animal welfare News/Blog Promoted rodeo

Calgary Stampede under fire for purchasing favourable “journalism”

Screenshot Canadaland

Canadaland reports that in 2011, the Calgary Stampede commissioned a piece to run in prestigious magazine Canadian Geographic. Journalist Curtis Gillespie thoroughly investigated, and ultimately wrote a piece entitled “Rodeo under scrutiny: The debate over animal care at the Calgary Stampede.”

 

Among other things, the balanced piece explained that horses were bred specifically to buck; horses who didn’t buck wildly enough were slaughtered. Gillespie’s editor called the piece “brilliant” and a “magnum opus.”

 

However, the publisher decided to pull the story at the last minute and instead ran a piece by someone who had previously published a book called “Celebrating the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.”

 

Canadian Geographic ran the Stampede-friendly piece, “Rodeo renewal: How animal-care practices are changing perceptions of the century-old Stampede.” It was not identified as sponsored content.

 

In spite of its unethical advertising practices disguised as journalism, the Stampede’s attempts to create the illusion that rodeo is positive are failing. Public opinion across Canada is turning firmly against this barbaric spectacle of violence against animals.

Fortunately, the truth about the Stampede sending horses to slaughter did come out in 2012.

Please visit our rodeo campaign page to learn more about this issue and what you can do to help.

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The ad they didn’t want you to see

VHS Abbotsford News Ad - June 2015-page-0

Last Friday, the Vancouver Sun ran a story about the refusal of the Abbotsford News to run our anti-rodeo ad, pictured above. The ad shows a photo of the steer-wrestling event at the 2008 Abbotsford Agrifair rodeo.

As the Sun’s story notes, VHS’s lawyers checked the ad.  There is no legal or ethical reason not to run it.  The ad is just expressing an opinion on a matter of public concern, something that is considered central to our democracy and to freedom of speech.

We are disappointed that the Abbotsford News would not let its readers see our point of view.  Newspapers are supposed to be champions of free speech and forums for debate and different opinions.  We understand that the Abbotsford News is a “rodeo partner” – as indicated on the Agrifair website – but that shouldn’t mean that advertising is refused just because it expresses a different viewpoint.

We know that many Canadians, including Abbotsford residents, are concerned about inhumane rodeo events.  If you are one of them, please sign our e-campaign to ask the Abbotsford Agrifair and its sponsors to stop supporting rodeo cruelty. It’s one way compassionate people can be heard, even if some newspapers would prefer they were kept silent.

 

 

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animal welfare cruelty News/Blog Promoted rodeo Uncategorized

Is the tide turning against rodeo in Canada?

the chucks

Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur

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There are encouraging signs that attitudes toward rodeo and chuckwagon races in Canada may be changing, if independent opinion in mainstream media is anything to go by.

A recent editorial in the Vancouver Sun said that it was “hard to argue” with the description of the Calgary Stampede as “a spectacle of animal abuse.”

In the same week, a column in the Ottawa Citizen described the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon race as a “brutal mix of human domination over an animal running at breakneck speed in confined quarters” and asked: “Would we miss it if it disappeared?”

Calf roper at 2006 Russian River Rodeo, Duncans Mills, California

Another column in the Calgary Herald, authored by a member of the Herald’s editorial board stated: “…the bottom line is these animals are still being used for sheer entertainment in events that can cause them traumatic injuries and death — and it is unnecessary for them to be subjected to this. Are we humans so hard up for entertainment that we must amuse ourselves by watching events that can cause animals to suffer and die?”

Elsewhere on the prairies, an editorial in the Moose Jaw Times-Herald criticized the Calgary Stampede, stating: “Shutting down the rodeo portion of the Stampede deserves serious consideration.”

Meanwhile, the BBC drew international attention to the deaths of chuckwagon horses at the Stampede with a lengthy analysis titled “Why horses die on the half-mile of hell”.

Update: Yet another opinion piece (in Metro News Canada) critical of the chuckwagon race has been published.

Update: An article in the Ottawa Citizen describes watching the CBC coverage of the Calgary Stampede, stating:”…it was impossible not to feel empathy for the poor animals, so clearly unwilling participants in this painful and terrifying circus. In the name of tradition, the CBC broadcast an ugly and cruel spectacle, one that felt like it took place in a dark, shameful past that the public no longer wanted to acknowledge, or had an appetite for.”

Aside from media comment, it should be remembered that virtually all mainstream animal welfare agencies oppose rodeo.

A 2013 public opinion poll showed that the majority of B.C. residents are opposed to rodeo.  Maybe that sentiment is beginning to spread across the country. Let’s hope so.

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A helpful tip for CBC Sports

baseball iStock_000016962575_smalltextcalf roping040522Rodeo082cropresize

Rodeo animals are exposed to fear, pain and stress to make them perform.

That’s not sport.  That’s violence toward animals.

Please sign our petition asking CBC Sports to stop broadcasting rodeo cruelty at the Calgary Stampede.

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Tormenting animals is always outrageous

The harassment of a moose has rightly provoked shock and anger but rodeo animals face routine abuse and it’s considered entertainment.

 

text2 mooseVideo of several men tormenting a moose in northern B.C. has gone viral and caused outrage around the world. Conservation officers have launched an investigation and the perpetrators could face heavy fines if caught and charged.

 

 

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textdead-steer1-040523Rodeo0461Meanwhile, rodeos routinely torment animals and hand out prize money to reward the abuse. Just because an animal is “livestock” doesn’t mean it can’t feel the same fear and stress that other animals do.  Cruelty is cruelty.

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Please sign our petition asking CBC Sports to stop broadcasting animal cruelty at the Calgary Stampede.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Is CBC being honest about calf-roping?

B&W Stampede calf roping
Calf-roping at the Calgary Stampede. Is this what CBC Sports is afraid viewers might see?         Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur

Anyone who watches CBC Sports coverage of calf-roping at the Calgary Stampede will notice that the moment the rope is tightening around the calf’s neck the camera will pan back to the rider and horse.  It has long been suspected that this is to avoid showing the calf being brutally jerked to a sudden halt, which might upset viewers.

This issue came up in a VHS interview with CBC Radio’s As it Happens program, which asked the head of CBC Sports if it was true that the camera deliberately panned away from the calf the moment it hit the end of the rope.  His answer was that CBC Sports: “will follow an event from start to finish and make quick in-the-moment decisions as necessary, as we do with all live sports coverage.”

Watch this CBC coverage of calf-roping (which in public relations double-speak they call tie-down roping) and you will note that the camera pans away every time.  Another example here.

If what happens to rodeo calves has to be hidden from the wider public, doesn’t that show how wrong and unacceptable their treatment is?

Please sign our petition against CBC Sports coverage of rodeo cruelty at the Calgary Stampede.

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Why does CBC Sports broadcast animal cruelty at the Calgary Stampede?

 

Ad calf
Calf being roped at Calgary Stampede. Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur

Tell CBC to stop broadcasting violence toward animals. Sign our petition!

CBC Sports has confirmed to VHS that it will once again broadcast the Calgary Stampede’s rodeo and chuckwagon races in July.  Despite severe budget cuts to its sports coverage, the CBC apparently is keeping its rodeo coverage intact.

VHS has explained to CBC Sports executives that rodeo is considered inhumane by virtually all major animal welfare agencies, including the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and the national SPCAs of the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (where it has been outlawed since 1934).

We have pointed out the obvious fact that roping animals to a sudden halt or twisting their necks until they are bent to the ground will cause fear, pain and stress.  We have asked them how this could possibly be considered entertainment.

Calf face crop Rodeo-99

We have also noted that the CBC’s television coverage of calf-roping ensures that the camera pans away from the calf as it hits the end of the rope.  That way, viewers will never see the calf violently jerked off its feet.  If what happens to the calf is not fit for the general public to see, how can the CBC condone the event by covering it?

We sent CBC Sports a link to this video showing a bull being kicked in the head at the Stampede.  We had no reply. Meanwhile, animals continue to be tormented for the sake of entertainment at the Stampede, like these ponies. The CBC doesn’t seem to want to face the truth about rodeo.

We’re asking Canadians who care about animals to let CBC Sports know how they feel about the Calgary Stampede broadcasts.  Please take a minute to sign our petition calling on Trevor Pilling, Head of Programming at CBC Sports, to stop broadcasting rodeo animal cruelty at the Calgary Stampede. 

More information on our Calgary Stampede campaign page.

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