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!
18 replies on “Great news: Abbotsford rodeo cancelled!”
THIS IS MOMENTUM! Great work VHS and all the people who took time to write sponsors and the City! One day soon rodeo will be a thing of the past in BC!
rodeo is part of the fabric of British Columbia …i just wish we could build a fence around vancouver your views are not shared by the most of our people outside of metro vancouver..
Latest poll shows 62% of BC residents are opposed to rodeos. You’ll need a lot of fencing.
Awesomeness!!!!!
Not true, there are many of us out there that think the rodeo is all about animal abuse and should be stopped
I live outside Vancouver. Rodeos are cruel. I do not want to take my children to watch a bunch of grown men beating up animals. Animals do not sign up for these events. Why not let a bunch of Cowboys in the ring and let them go at it all they want. A real Cowboy smack down. Sounds like that would entertain the people that like Rodeos.
I live in Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island. Please do not assume that the wish to cancel rodeos is just a Vancouver thing. There are lots of us outside of Vancouver who detest the cruelty issues.
This is wonderful hope to stop it al over one step at a time.
Good for Abbotsford and VHS, although I think it has to be pointed out that it was Melissa de Meulles who almost single handedly, along with a small group of local supporters out of southern Vancouver Island, forced the end of the Luxton Rodeo here. Never doubt what a small group of committed activists can do to bring about change!
Abusing animals for pleasure needs to stop, indefinitely.
Hopefully a different rodeo will pop up in BC to replace abbotsford. You people need to focus on animals that are actually starving or abused. Rodeo is strictly regulated so the animals are given the best possible treatment. Rodeo will never die, it will be here forever.
Take a look at the photo, Joe. That’s the “best possible treatment”???
Rodeo will, in fact, die. You can do any number of searches to see that the turnout is dwindling from attendees and as a result, the sponsors will back out as there is nothing to sell anymore. It is in no way a sustainable business model. Public outcry is far worse for a company’s bottom line than the very small select few who think otherwise.
You guys are retarded, there is nothing wrong with rodeo and it’s a great sport. Go hug trees elsewhere….
What does hugging trees have to do with protecting calves and steers from fear, injury and death?
VHS, thankyou for your unwavering efforts to educate the public and encourage this fantastic turn of events over many years! We haven’t had to protest the former Comox Valley rodeo for a number of years now so hopefully it too is history, (like Luxton as well)!
Fantastic news! The excuses from rodeo supporters are the same the world over. Cruelty will always have its supporters but as more of us find out what rodeo really does to animals, we are speaking out. Here in New Zealand there is a fast-growing campaign to end rodeo. Your success will spur (pun intended) us on. Rodeo is brutal to animals and desensitizes children, turning them into the kind of adults that will enjoy animal torture circuses in the future. Thank you for the animals 🙂 Anti-Rodeo Action NZ
extremely happy to hear about the Abbotsford Rodeo cancellation. However, I’m wondering if all of the people who worked so hard to bring this about, and all of the people so happy to hear (finally!) of the end of this travesty — are any of you still eating beef, pork, chicken, fish, lamb, veal, etc. because — “it’s okay if I just don’t think about it”? If you ARE still eating meat, do yourself a favour and Google how pigs are slaughtered. Remember the person who said – “if slaughterhouses had windows, all the world would be vegetarian”!