To The Reader’s Forum:

If people taking part in or attending an event — a rodeo — that glorifies animals being spurred, roped, slammed to the ground, being strapped with bucking straps, or their necks violently twisted is something to be celebrated, I think it is time to give pause. Actually, it is sick and depraved, in my opinion, much like the gladiator events in ancient Rome.

Maybe it is time to think about what goes on behind the scenes, too, as if what is happening before the audience’s very own eyes shouldn’t be enough. Veterinarians have testified to the terrible bruising that some animals experience due to their rough handling. Some states have actually outlawed calf roping. Remember – these are babies that are forced to flee from a chute only to be roped and jerked by the neck and then thrown to the ground – day in and day out.

Speaking of babies, we ought to be about the business of teaching children to be kind and empathetic towards others. What values do we teach them when we show them that we enjoy treating animals in this way for pleasure and profit? So what if there are people who think it is fun to play “cowboy?” So what if money is raised on the backs of animals being treated this way? There are certainly other forms of entertainment that don’t frighten and inflict pain on animals so that human beings can have some “fun.”

There was a war fought in our country because some of our fellow countrymen believed that using pain and fear to force other men, women and children to work to raise money for them was alright. They believed so much in that concept, they laid down their lives for those beliefs. If inflicting pain and fear on animals for fun and making money is acceptable today, how close are our values to those who firmly believed that slavery was right, too? Like the slaves of the Old South, these animals have no choice and no voice.

Rodeos serve no useful purpose other than to entertain those who don’t consider or don’t care about the spurring, roping, etc. Rodeos just put money in the pockets of those who think it is alright.

Jamestown