Aftermath of the Calgary Stampede

We talked a bit about the Calgary Stampede at the end of June when two newspapers chose not to run an ad by the Vancouver Humane Society. The ad depicted a cowboy flinging a baby calf to the ground in one of the more egregious rodeo activities, calf roping.

Now that the Stampede is over, how did things go?

Well, four animals are dead.

A steer suffered significant spinal injuries during the steer wrestling event and was later killed. Why on earth anyone feels it is necessary to "wrestle" steer as a means of entertainment is beyond my understanding.

And then there's the chuckwagon event which has claimed the most animal lives at the stampede. In the past ten years, an average of two horses have died annually during this event alone. This year, three horses died. Two horses died of heart attacks after the race. One horse was killed after breaking his leg during a race.

Most of you already avoid rodeos. That's good. You can also help by avoiding/reducing animal products - most of the calves and steers in these events will be sent to slaughter. It isn't bad enough they are chased and violently handled, they are then sent to an equally horrifying death.