Editor’s Note: We welcome Letters to the Editor of local and general interest to our readers. Letters should be typed and include the writer’s first and last name, home address and phone number for verification. No anonymous letters will be printed. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and libel. Send letters via email to [email protected], or mail them to 522-B Broadway St., King City, CA 93930.
Nature’s revenge
Delighted to hear that the California Rodeo in Salinas has been canceled. Hallelujah! Let’s make it permanent.
I was at the 1995 Salinas rodeo when five animals suffered and died. A roping calf with a broken back was not euthanized, but was simply trucked off to slaughter, terrified and in agony. Pain-killers given? “No,” I was told, “that would ruin the meat.” So much for rodeo’s compassion.
Only in the aftermath of the mayhem did the PRCA begin to require on-site veterinarians at all their sanctioned events; the majority don’t.
Most of rodeo is bogus from the git-go. Real working cowboys never routinely rode bulls, or wrestled steers, or rode bareback, or barrel raced, or practiced calf roping as a timed event. It’s all hype, a macho exercise in domination.
The United Kingdom outlawed rodeos back in 1934. Can the United States be far behind? Legislation is in order: local, state, federal. Follow the money.
Lest we forget, Covid-19 was human-caused, a direct result of our callous mistreatment of animals, both wild and domestic. Rodeo — like those Confederate statues — belongs in the dustbin of history.
Eric Mills
Coordinator, Action for Animals
Oakland
