Letter: Time to put an end to the Calgary Stampede

It is horrifying to know that over the years many animals have either been killed or had to be euthanized at the Calgary Stampede, usually in the chuck wagon race or steer and calf roping.

Might I be one of the first to condemn these types of races and competitions. I also condemn those who take part in it and those who support it, and revel in it.

It is high time to put an end to these types of barbaric and cruel animal activities. Horses are prey animals and of course they can run. They have devotedly, albeit sometimes unwillingly, served people for a millennia or more.

Tragically the only prey they have now are humans who exploit them for greed, glory, money and perverse pleasure.

These creatures give endless love, devotion and friendship to their “owners” and the people around them. What a senseless and cruel way to have your beloved friends die, as too many horses have over the years, along with other animals.

I would go so far as to say that it might be a time to put an end to the Calgary Stampede and its barbaric use of animals.

After all, 102 years ago the first “Stampede” was an event to mark the end of an era of so-called Western culture.

Today the Calgary Stampede tries to romanticize a past that probably never was and faded way back in 1912.

I ask also, where are the veterinarians and the Alberta Humane Society at the Stampede, plus the police? Surely these people witness the blatant misuse and abuse of the animals, particularly the horses.

I’ll join and support any organization that will work to stamp out animal abuse at not only the Calgary Stampede but any other rodeo that mistreats our fellow creatures.

I call upon our Ontario legislators to enact laws banning activities obviously condoned and encouraged in Alberta. How many animals will suffer distress, torture, mental and physical anguish, fatal injuries and maiming for the so-called pleasure of people, greed and profit?

Lionel W.F. Rudd
Sudbury