Cruelty

by Marea E. Johnson

Created on: January 10, 2009   Last Updated: June 17, 2011

Rodeos are not only cruel to animals; but cruel to the world as a whole!

Is it any wonder we have children assaulting, torturing and murdering innocent animals and people not only in this country, but around the world, everyday? It's atrocities like rodeos that parents take their kids to, in the name of "family entertainment", that continue to desensitize them to the point of believing that it is not only "okay" to inflict pain on a defenseless living creature, but that it is "fun and harmless". Even more appalling is the fact that these children see the participants being labeled as "champions"and "heroes", who are financially rewarded as well!

Some people who have never attended a real rodeo, think they are harmless; often equating them to nothing more than a county fair with silly "cowboy clowns" running about, playing tricks on people and engaging in harmless antics with the animals.

But what they imagine couldn't be further from the truth, and I think if more people saw, whether in person, or preferably on video, what really happens to these poor animals, only the most mentally depraved and sadistic would ever attend one, much less actually pay good money to do so! But we'll shortly see why rodeos are not only NOT sport, but instead, the very EPITOME of animal cruelty.

For example, one of their acts known as "calf roping" consists of the taking of several 3-4 month old calves and caging them up for several days; oftentimes without food or water until the date of the show. This is done to make them weak, and unable to run very fast.

Then, when it's "showtime", they let the calf loose into the arena, where the crowd enjoys watching it run for its life while being terrorized and chased by a large horse and its rider. And in a matter of seconds, a rope is thrown around this baby animal's neck, and it is violently jerked back, causing it to flip over, often causing its spine and neck to snap.

And as if this weren't painful enough, the rider then jumps off of his horse and proceeds to "add insult to injury" by shoving his knees into its little ribs and head in an attempt to stop the injured and petrified animal from escaping. He then follows this up by "hog tying" its legs with a rope, flipping it back over, slamming it to the ground, and holding his arms up high in the air for the audience to cheer! And cheer they do!

Another popular act you will see at the rodeo is known as "steer wrestling and roping". It is very similar to the atrocity above, except that it's actually worse!

Because of the size and weight of the steer, who often weighs between 500 and 600 pounds, the need for control and weakening of the animal increases. The measures used to accomplish this are days of being caged without food and water, and then being placed into what is called a "chute", which is a narrow cage that leads out to the "arena" to begin the "priming" of it.

The objective of priming is to just basically aggitate and abuse the animal to the point of it being unbearable. This includes some of the most barbaric things I never would have believed, had I not seen it with my own eyes from undercover footage taken by a friend.

Some of the most common methods include having the males' testicles twisted and tightly bound, being repeatedly shocked with electrical prods, "tail twisting" where the tail is twisted, bent, and pulled, and many other means until the pain from it all becomes so unbearable that the animal is writhing in pain and jumping and "bucking" in a desperate attempt to free itself of the pain.

It's when it is at its most desperate and wild that it is then at its "prime", and ready to go "on stage". The handlers then let it loose from the chute where it runs out bucking like crazy, trying to remove the tourniquet from its genitals. The longer he can't free himself from the pain, the more berserk the poor animal becomes. And this is just the BEGINNING of this animal's fate.

Next comes the rider on his horse, who then proceeds to chase this already suffering animal, and throw a rope around its neck. And just like the babies', its neck is jerked back, and its body flipped upside down. And as if the pain and suffering endured by the young calves wasn't horrific enough, because of its size and weight, the poor steer suffers even more. Being so big and heavy, it hits the ground with tremendous force, resulting in greater pain, disability and deaths.

Now, once the rider has "lassoed" the steer, he'll jump off of his horse, jump on top of the animal, and proceed to "wrestle" it to the ground, where he then sits on it. In an attempt to keep it on the ground (to gain points!) its neck is severely twisted, and in the process, often broken.

Then, because the rope is still attached to the horse, the horse will often run off, not understanding what's going on, and the poor steer will be dragged for hundreds of feet, leading to further pain and injury.

This occurence is particularly heinous if it occurs on a rainy day, when instead of promoters losing a little bit of money by rescheduling the event, the show goes on as usual, without any regard for the animals.

The injured steers, after being held to the ground for the "allotted" time, are then often quickly drug through the thick mud and deep puddles, face-down, by the confused horse, only to end up lying there motionless, with its nostrils and mouth filled with mud and water, unable to breathe, and suffocating.

Workers will run out to the arena to remove such injured or dead animals, but not for reasons of compassion. All injured and dead animals are immediately, and quite casually, "escorted" from the arena to hide the REAL truth from the audience of what really results from this kind of "sport". The smaller animals are simply tossed in an area away from the crowds, left to suffer in pain, and eventually die. The fate of the larger steer however, is once again, even worse than that of their little counterpart's.

When a large steer or horse is injured, disabled, or dead, they are too heavy to carry, so the workers simply back up one of the many trucks they keep on site to the animal, and tie it to the back fender, where it is then dragged many miles on dirt roads riddled with sharp rocks and other debris, often while they're still alive and conscious. Depending upon the animal, and its condition, it will either be dumped, or taken to a slaughterhouse. Living, feeling beings created by God, only to be treated like trash. It is truly a tragedy.

And the most horrible thing about the examples above is the fact that they are only just the "tip of the iceberg" of what REALLY goes on at these rodeos.

And as if all this weren't bad enough, almost as appalling, is hearing the emcees at these torture fests, making jokes for their audiences as these animals are being abused right before their eyes!

On a rainy day, I heard them say things like "Folks, we've got surfin' in Cheyenne today!" (as in Cheyenne, Wyoming) where the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo, hailed as the "Big Daddy of 'em All", is held. This was said as a steer was being dragged through the large muddy puddles, its body turning and swirling, trying to catch its breath. When the horse finally stopped, the steer lay motionless. It was later found out that the steer had died.

But even MORE disturbing is the response of the crowd filled with adults, (mostly hillbillies) and their children, sometimes as young as two and three, clapping and cheering! They seem to become more excited and entertained the more "challenging" the whole act becomes! These people are actually having a good time watching living, breathing, feeling, defenseless animals being tortured! What has our world come to? Or more importantly, how much worse is it going to get?

These docile and gentle animals are forced to endure extreme pain, organ bruising and damage, internal hemorrhaging, bone fractures, ripped tendons, ligaments and muscles, permanent disability and finally death, at which point they are merely dumped somewhere, or sent to the local slaughterhouse, all in the name of entertainment and profit, or as some very misguided people would say, "sport"!

Only the most depraved individuals would engage in, and/or witness, much less PAY, to see these heinous acts of torture being perpretrated on these innocent animals, all in the name of greed. To even CONSIDER that ANY part of a rodeo be classified as a "sport" is just downright insane!

More and more people, including celebrities like drummer Rikki Rockett of "Poison", Rob Thomas of "Matchbox Twenty", and Carrie Underwood, to name just a few, and some major corporate sponsors of rodeos like Starbucks and Campbell's, are continuing to opt out one by one as they are being educated and made aware of what REALLY happens at these rodeos. And you can choose to opt out as well by never attending a one!

There are many sites on the internet that show pictures and video footage of the torture of these innocent animals. Please don't believe anyone who tries to downplay the depravity that is pervasive within the rodeo circuit; videos don't lie. You need only watch ONE of the hundreds that are out there to see just how perverse this form of "entertainment" really is, and hopefully, once you see for yourself, you'll never pay to go and see these beautiful animals so mercilessly tortured; animals, that by the way, were created even before us humans were. That should tell us something!

For more information on the truth about rodeos, and what you can do to put a stop to this brutality, please go to:

http://www.sharkonli ne.org/?P=0000000349 .

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