Rodeo rustles up some controversy
Activist decries ‘dangerous’ events, but vows protests will be peaceful
The steak-out begins.
Animal-rights activists are planning a series of pickets outside the Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair starting at 5 p.m. Friday.
Protest organizer Sarah W. Fox says they expect a few dozen activists to add some hot sauce to the already simmering animal-rights debate that heats up each year on the opening day of the annual rodeo and country fair.
Her big beef with the rodeo is the mutton-busting competition, and she wants everyone to know they don’t plan to get ornery when they protest.
“It is going to be peaceful,” she said. “We are obeying the law.”
Fox said her group is known as People United Against Rodeo Events. She is also involved in Liberation B.C., Collectively Free Vancouver, and other animalrights groups including Liberate GVZoo and VanAqua Facts. She said they have no ties with Pamela Anderson or PETA.
“I think it is scary for the children and the sheep,” she said of the mutton-busting event that runs during the rodeo. She claims kids have been seriously injured during the event. “It is dangerous,” she said. In 2013, a woman and a protester had a run-in outside the fair grounds, but Fox maintains her group will be low-key during the protests, which are planned to last all weekend.
“The whole idea is to have a peaceful protest,” she said. “We will keep it a safe space for everyone.”
“They say it is tradition, but just because something has been done for a long time doesn’t mean it is right.”
Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair spokeswoman Laura Ballance said that in past years demonstrators thought calf-roping and steer-wrestling was still part of the rodeo. Those events were taken out of the program two seasons ago, she said.
“These animals receive exceptional care,” she said of the livestock brought in for the rodeo.
Veterinarians are on site at all times, Ballance said, and the SPCA normally comes in and does an inspection. The kids wear helmets for the mutton ride and Ballance said they have not had any serious injuries in the event.
The events currently in the rodeo are saddle bronc, bareback, bullriding and ladies’ barrel racing.
“We encourage people to come down and see the quality of care these animals get,” she said.