Ban rodeo shows!

Anyone with a heart knows it's wrong to clothesline a baby animal, body slam it to the ground, tie its legs so it can’t move, and drag it by the neck.

If this were done to a puppy or kitten, the offender would understandably be charged with a crime, and likely be jailed. In rodeos, however, it's called calf roping, and supporters claim it’s a sport.

But the abuse of baby cows is just one of rodeo’s cruelties...

In rodeo events, such as calf roping, steer wrestling, bareback horse and bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, steer roping, and barrel racing, normally docile animals are physically provoked into displaying "wild" behavior in order to make the cowboys look brave.

Electric prods, spurs, and bucking straps are used to irritate and enrage animals used in rodeos. Before entering the ring, cows and horses are often prodded with an electrical "hotshot" so that the pain will rile them.

The flank (or "bucking") strap is tightly cinched around the animals' abdomens, causing them to buck vigorously in an attempt to escape the pain. The flank strap can cause open wounds and burns when the hair is rubbed off and the skin is chafed raw. Former animal control officers have found burrs and other irritants placed under the flank strap.

Rodeo cowboys voluntarily risk injury by participating in events, but the animals they use have no such choice. Countless animals in rodeos have suffered broken ribs, backs, and legs; punctured lungs; deep internal organ bruising; haemorrhaging; ripped tendons; torn ligaments and muscles; snapped necks; and agonizing deaths.

The late Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat inspector, saw many animals from rodeos sold to the slaughterhouses he inspected. He described seeing animals "with 6-8 ribs broken from the spine, and at times puncturing the lungs." Haber saw animals with "as much as 2-3 gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin."

The undersigned of this petition call on the governments of those countries where rodeo is still being practiced, to ban this cruel events. Shows that promote violence and cruelty should no longer be tolerated in a civilized society.

While proponents of rodeo shows claim it is a sport, we, the undersigned, do not agree with this definition because sport, by definition, does not include involuntary participants. Rodeo shows are just needless animal cruelty. The animals suffer tremendously before and during such shows and as we all know, cruelty against animals also harms society as a whole; it signals and normalizes insensitivity in children who can become numb to the suffering of living beings. It is also known to influence certain people to commit violence to other humans.

Those events were maybe okay at times when people did not know better, but, as with all civilisations and generations of human beings, time moves forward and we learn and grow and we (should) realize that things we did years ago were wrong, outdated and/or no longer accepted by other members of our society.

While many governments worldwide promote non-violent cultural practices and forms of entertainment and while some countries have even already banned the use of animals in circuses and other shows, we believe that the United States of America and the other mentioned countries should also move forward in direction of a more compassionate society and take the important step to stop abusing animals as a mean of entertainment such as in rodeo shows (and others).

Until such a time, we ask that all people of conscience and compassion stop supporting rodeo cruelty and this whole industry by boycotting not only these events but also their sponsors.