Activists planning to protest rodeo in Welland
Ultimate Rodeo tour scheduled for Aug. 31 at the Niagara Regional Exhibition grounds
Local animal rights activists want people to think twice about supporting an upcoming rodeo in Welland.
The Ultimate Rodeo tour will ride into the city on Aug. 31 at the Niagara Regional Exhibition and groups like At War for Animals Niagara (AWFAN), Niagara Action for Animals, and a representative from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), are planning to stage a protest at the event again this year.
Adam Stirr, from AWFAN, said his organization’s greatest concern is animals in the show being used for entertainment, leading to financial gain for the organizers.
“Our participation is based solely on these animals being treated as property and exploited for human benefit,” he said in an interview.
The alleged poor treatment of the creatures involved with western rodeo competitions is also a major area of concern for Stirr and his group, but the Niagara activist hopes spectators who attend the event will take a “momentary pause” when they see protestors outside the exhibition grounds at the end of the month and reconsider what they are spending their money on.
Raising awareness about animal treatment will be a focus, even though he admits there aren’t expectations that their cause will stop the show from going on.
“We’re probably not going to affect the event very much, realistically,” he said.
“The way humans use animals is very immoral. We need to change our relationship with the natural world,” he added.
AWFAN is also the group behind recent demonstrations in Niagara-on-the-Lake targeting a business that offers horse-drawn carriage rides.
Caitlin Hamm, a Welland resident who will start a term as the University of Windsor’s PETA representative in September, said rodeos create an “unhealthy relationship between people and animals” and that she is mostly troubled about the welfare of the beasts involved in rodeos.
“It kind of paints the animals as villains,” said Hamm, claiming they are dominated into performing for the crowds.
“They’re obviously agitated and angry,” she added.
Ross Millar, president of Rodeo Management Group, the organization bringing the Ultimate Rodeo Tour to Niagara in a few weeks, said his team takes great pride in their sport and how their bulls and broncos are treated.
He said they have an “openbook policy” with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA).
“We’re very proud that in 21 years, we’ve had no citations from the OSPCA,” said Millar.
He feels there is a “naivety” within the public understanding of the rodeo world and that he encourages people to come out on Aug. 31 to form their own opinion of the event that has taken place in Welland for 12 years.
Millar said he is familiar with the groups who will be demonstrating at the exhibition site on Niagara Street and that raising concerns is their right.
“It’s a free world and they’re certainly allowed to protest in a legal way. That’s part of being in Canada,” he said.
Proceeds from the rodeo stop will support Diabetes Canada.