{"id":125459,"date":"2003-12-16T09:32:00","date_gmt":"2003-12-16T13:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peta.org\/issues\/rodeo-cruelty-buck\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T02:33:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T09:33:38","slug":"rodeo-cruelty-buck","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/issues\/animals-in-entertainment\/animals-used-entertainment-factsheets\/rodeo-cruelty-buck\/","title":{"rendered":"Rodeo: Cruelty for a Buck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rodeos<\/a> are promoted as rough-and-tough exercises of human skill and courage in conquering the fierce, untamed beasts of the Wild West. But in reality, rodeos are nothing more than manipulative displays of human domination over animals, thinly disguised as entertainment. What began in the 1800s as a contest of skill among cowboys has become a show motivated by greed and big profits.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Stunts<\/h3>\n

Standard rodeo events include calf roping, steer wrestling, bareback horse and bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer roping, and barrel racing.2<\/sup> The animals used in rodeos are captive performers. Most are relatively tame but understandably distrustful of humans because of the harsh treatment that they have received. Many of these animals are not aggressive by nature; they are physically provoked into displaying \u201cwild\u201d behavior in order to make the cowboys look brave.<\/p>\n

Tools of Torment<\/h3>\n

Electric prods, spurs, and bucking straps are used to irritate and enrage animals in rodeos. The flank, or \u201cbucking,\u201d strap or rope is tightly cinched around the animals\u2019 abdomens, which causes them to \u201cbuck vigorously to try to rid themselves of the torment.\u201d3<\/sup> \u201cBucking horses often develop back problems from the repeated poundings they take from the cowboys,\u201d Dr. Cordell Leif told the Denver Post<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s also a real leg injury where a tendon breaks down. Horses don\u2019t normally jump up and down.\u201d4<\/sup><\/p>\n

When the flank strap is paired with spurring, it causes the animals to buck even more violently, often resulting in serious injuries.5<\/sup> Former animal control officers have found burrs and other irritants placed under the flank strap.6<\/sup> In addition, the flank strap can cause open wounds and burns when the hair is rubbed off and the skin chafes.7<\/sup><\/p>\n

Cows<\/a> and horses are often prodded with an electrical \u201chotshot\u201d while in the chute to rile them, causing intense pain to the animals. Peggy Larson\u2014a veterinarian who in her youth was a bareback bronc rider\u2014said, \u201cBovines are more susceptible to electrical current than other animals. Perhaps because they have a huge \u2018electrolyte\u2019 vat, the rumen [one of their stomachs].\u201d8<\/sup><\/p>\n

Injuries and Deaths<\/h3>\n

Although rodeo cowboys voluntarily risk injury by participating in events, the animals they use have no such choice. Because speed is a factor in many rodeo events, the risk of accidents is high.<\/p>\n

By the end of the annual Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada, several animals are usually dead. In 2005, horses destined for the event stampeded in fear as they were being herded across a bridge; some jumped and others were pushed into the river. Nine horses died.9<\/sup> In 2009, a steer who suffered a spinal cord injury during a roping event as well as three horses died.10<\/sup> Six horses died in the 2010 Stampede, two from heart attacks, one from a broken back, and another from a shoulder injury so severe that the attending veterinarian ordered the animal to be euthanized.11,12<\/sup><\/p>\n

At the 2010 Colorado rodeo in Denver, 11 animals were injured\u2014two fatally\u2014during an event in which a horseback rider grabs a cow by the tail and slams the animal to the ground. Animal cruelty charges were filed against the organizers of the rodeo after sheriff\u2019s investigators reported that some animals\u2019 tails had ripped off and that animals\u2019 bones had been broken.13<\/sup><\/p>\n

Calves who are roped while running routinely have their necks snapped back by the lasso, often resulting in neck injuries.14<\/sup> Even Bud Kerby, owner and operator of Bar T Rodeos Inc., agrees that calf roping is inhumane. He told the St. George Spectrum <\/em>that he \u201cwouldn\u2019t mind seeing calf roping phased out.\u201d15<\/sup> During Rodeo Houston, a bull with a broken neck suffered for a full 15 minutes before he was euthanized following a steer-wrestling competition, which was described by a local newspaper as an event in which \u201ccowboys violently twist the heads of steers weighing about 500 pounds to bring them to the ground.\u201d16<\/sup><\/p>\n

Rodeo association rules are not effective in preventing injuries and are not strictly enforced, and penalties are not severe enough to deter abuse. For example, one rule states, \u201cAny member guilty of mistreatment of livestock anywhere on the rodeo grounds shall be fined $250 for the first offense with that fine progressively doubling with each offense thereafter.\u201d17<\/sup> But fines are small compared to the large purses that are at stake. Rules also allow the animals to be confined or transported in vehicles for up to 24 hours without being properly fed, watered, or unloaded.<\/p>\n

The End of the Trail<\/h3>\n

The late Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat inspector, worked in slaughterhouses and saw many animals discarded from rodeos and sold for slaughter. He described the animals as being so extensively bruised that the only areas in which their skin was attached to their flesh were the head, neck, legs, and belly. He described seeing animals \u201cwith 6\u20138 ribs broken from the spine, and at times puncturing the lungs.\u201d Haber saw animals with \u201cas much as 2\u20133 gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin.\u201d18<\/sup> These injuries resulted when animals were thrown in calf-roping events and when people jumped on them from the backs of horses during steer wrestling.<\/p>\n

Spurn the Spurs<\/h3>\n

If a rodeo comes to your town, protest to local authorities, write letters to sponsors, distribute leaflets at the gate, or hold a demonstration. Contact PETA for posters and fliers.<\/p>\n

Check state and local laws to find out what types of activities involving animals are and are not legal in your area. For example, after a spectator videotaped a bull breaking his leg during a rodeo event, Pittsburgh passed a law prohibiting bucking straps, electric prods, and sharpened or fixed spurs. Because most rodeos use flank straps prohibited by the Pittsburgh law, the measure effectively banned rodeos altogether.1<\/sup> Another successful means of banning rodeos is to institute a state or local ban on calf roping, the event in which cruelty is most easily documented. Because many rodeo circuits require calf roping, eliminating it can result in the elimination of all rodeo shows.<\/p>\n

\n

References<\/strong>
\n1<\/sup>Ronda Quaid, \u201cA Tip of the Hat to the Vaqueros,\u201d Coastline<\/em> 1996.
\n2<\/sup>Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, \u201cPRCA Event Descriptions,\u201d 2010.
\n3<\/sup>Hattie Klotz, \u201cBucking Bronco Dies in Corel Center Rodeo,\u201d The Ottawa Citizen <\/em>9 Aug. 1999.
\n4<\/sup>Steve Lipsher, \u201cVeterinarian Calls Rodeos Brutal to Stock,\u201d Denver Post <\/em>20 Jan. 1991.
\n5<\/sup>Peggy Larson, e-mail to PETA, 15 Nov. 2001.
\n6<\/sup>Ingrid E. Newkirk, former animal control officer, eyewitness account.
\n7<\/sup>Chris Heidenrich, \u201cAnimal-Rights Group Protests Rodeo,\u201d Daily Herald <\/em>17 July 1998.
\n8<\/sup>Larson.
\n9<\/sup>CBC News Online<\/em>, \u201cDeadly Accidents at the Calgary Stampede,\u201d 4 July 2005.
\n10<\/sup>Petti Fong, \u201cStampede Horse Deaths Spark Debate,\u201d Toronto Star <\/em>14 July 2010.
\n11<\/sup>Stephanie Dearing, \u201cAnimal Deaths, Human Injuries Cast Shadow Over Calvary Stampede,\u201d Digital Journal <\/em>17 July 2010.
\n12<\/sup>Fong.
\n13<\/sup>John Romero, \u201cRodeo to Resume in Jefferson Co. Despite Animal Cruelty Case,\u201d KDVR, 3 Aug. 2010.
\n14<\/sup>Lipsher.
\n15<\/sup>Patrice St. Germain, \u201cPETA: Rodeo Cruel to Animals; Rodeo Fans Say Animals Treated Well,\u201d St. George Spectrum<\/em> 15 Sep. 2001.
\n16<\/sup>\u201cSteer Suffers Broken Neck During Top Wrestling Run,\u201d Houston Chronicle <\/em>17 Mar. 2006.
\n17<\/sup>Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, \u201cPRCA Rules Governing the Care and Treatment of Livestock at PRCA Sanctioned Rodeos,\u201d Palm Springs WestFest, accessed 2 Dec. 2010.
\n18<\/sup>The Humane Society of the United States, interview with C.G. Haber, 1979.
\n19<\/sup>Timothy McNulty, \u201cCity Council Prodded to Ease Rules and Bring Back Rodeos,\u201d Pittsburgh Post-Gazette <\/em>18 June 2002.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rodeos are promoted as rough-and-tough exercises of human skill and courage in conquering the fierce, untamed beasts of the Wild West. But in reality, rodeos are nothing more than manipulative displays of human domination over animals, thinly disguised as entertainment. 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