Media release
July 26, 2017
Vancouver Humane Society calls for end to cruel rodeo events at Chilliwack Fair
Society says photos from 2016 fair show rodeo animals suffering
Vancouver – The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) is calling for an end to calf-roping and steer-wrestling at the upcoming Chilliwack Fair rodeo (August 11-13).
VHS has written to Chilliwack City Council asking for a ban on the two events and has also called on the Chilliwack Agricultural Society, which runs the fair, to voluntarily drop them from the rodeo program. VHS has launched an online campaign to urge the public to contact the council, the fair and its sponsors to ask for an end to the events.
VHS says calf-roping and steer-wrestling subject animals to fear, pain and stress for the sake of mere entertainment. “Terrified calves, only three months old, are chased, roped to a sudden halt, picked up and thrown to the ground before being tied up and steers have their necks twisted until the are literally bent to the ground,” said VHS spokesperson Peter Fricker. “Tormenting animals to amuse a crowd should be unacceptable in the 21st century.”
VHS obtained photographs taken at the 2016 Chilliwack Fair, which it says show rodeo animals in distress.
A 2015 survey by polling company Insights West found that 66 per cent of B.C. residents are opposed to rodeos.
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