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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
