Date
June 16, 2006
Contact
Alexandra Brenke
775-233-2292
Kristie Phelps (IDA)
757-423-0093
In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner Blvd
San Rafael
CA 94901
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
Rodeo Spurs Protest from Reno Residents
IDA Asks Cowboys to Lasso in Cruelty
Reno, Nev.—When the Reno Rodeo hits town this weekend, members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) will greet attendees with posters denouncing, “Cruelty for a Buck,” and urging them to boycott the event in which cowboys viciously prod docile bulls with hotshots and use other abusive devices in order to make them look wild:
When: Saturday, June 17th, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Where: Across the street from the main gate of the Livestock Events Center
Rodeos are violent events. In the notorious calf-roping event, cowboys compete to rope and tie three-to-four-month-old calves in the shortest amount of time. Handlers prod them, twist and yank their tails, and then release calves from pens. The frightened animals run from the gate at speeds approaching thirty miles per hour, are then lassoed by the neck, often snapping their heads back as they come to an abrupt stop. Sometimes they are jerked over backwards in what rodeo people call a “jerkdown.” They are then slammed to the ground and have their legs tied.
The calves, horses, and bulls used in bullriding events are passive by nature, but rodeo hands use electric prods, spurs and other torments to coerce them into action. The “bucking” strap—called a flank—is tightly cinched around the animals’ abdomens, where it causes severe agitation, causing them to buck beyond their normal ability and often causing painful injuries. Common injuries include broken bones, huge bruises and massive internal bleeding.
A horse was euthanized after breaking her leg at the PRCA Wild West Stampede in April 2005. An 11-year-old girl who witnessed the incident in Auburn, Calif. said, “The leg was hanging loose, like it was not attached to the body, and blood was everywhere.” A steer was killed at a PRCA rodeo in Cape Girardeau, Mo. in February 2005 after he tripped and fractured his neck as he was being wrestled to the ground. A calf had to be euthanized after suffering a spinal injury during the National Finals Rodeo calf-roping event in 2004.
“Any so-called ‘competition’ that must cruelly amend the natural state of the horses and bulls, then shock and torment the animals to engage in combat is no competition at all but, instead, an ego trip for cowboys,” says IDA spokesperson Kristie Phelps. “This behavior would be considered punishable under animal cruelty laws if done to a cat or dog who feels pain and suffers in the same way as bulls do.”
For more information, please visit www.IDAUSA.org.