From Ralph Clark,
Your Guide to Rodeo.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

The Cloverdale Rodeo, Canada's fifth-largest rodeo and event stop on the Canadian Rodeo Tour has decided to drop steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping and wild cow milking from its future events. The announcement came one day after animal rights activists stormed the arena and had to be removed.

The Cloverdale Rodeo has been under increasing attack from the animal rights movement, and the death of a calf at this year's rodeo was a catalyst for the move to axe the 'cruel' events (or so says the anti-rodeo movement).

The Canada Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) sanctions the Cloverdale Rodeo.

To read more on this story see the AFP article and another from Slam! Sports with an interview with Canadian cowboy and World Champion Steer Wrestler Lee Graves.

Warning My Personal Opinion Follows:

I am thoroughly disgusted at this turn of events at the Cloverdale Rodeo. There have been a ton of excuses and ridiculous justifications flying in the past few days (I hope no one injured their spine in the 24-hour back flip of their original position).

This decision gives legitimacy to a group of people who in reality know very little about rodeo or animals for that matter. If the folks at the Cloverdale Rodeo think that this move will somehow placate the animal rights movement, they are sadly mistaken for one simple reason...

the animal rights movement hates rodeo and that INCLUDES the bucking events.

I predict it's only a matter of time until the bucking events get nixed as well. They have opened a Pandora's Box that the whole rodeo world will have to deal with. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the animal rights groups involved plan to step up their misinformation campaign and take it to other rodeos.

What is most ridiculous is the posturing that the Cloverdale Association is now doing in defending their decision, acting as if they had no choice in 'protecting the animals.' Give me a break!

It has also been suggested that the Surrey City Council is very animal rights friendly and that they were ready to cancel the rodeo all together and that this was a compromise move since the rodeo is held on city property (and I'm sure it doesn't hurt that it brings in big bucks too).

Isn't it funny that the closer you get to the suburbs and urban areas the more you have to deal with the animal rights agenda? It's easier to confuse those who don’t really know this sport or its participants.

If the community truly doesn't appreciate the rodeo they can stop attending. If the majority really believes the roping events and steer wrestling are cruel (they would still be wrong none-the-less) the rodeo would be well advised to find a new home.

My guess is this isn't the majority but instead a vocal minority (like most animal rights groups) that feeds off of and feels empowered by telling other people what they should do and how they should act. Ridiculous in the extreme.

Of course I would be remiss not to bring up the Pamela Anderson angle. Everyone knows how much of an animal expert she is (detect sarcasm). It seems the Canadian celebrity has been actively protesting the rodeo and wrote the following letter to sponsors about it:

"The calf-roping event is particularly cruel. A baby animal, frightened and agitated, is confined in a small chute… too often his head is slammed into the metal bars... sometimes he's kicked." (As first reported by CTA.ca.)

On a More Positive Note:

I have a mixed bag of feelings about how I want this to turn out. On the one hand I am glad that the rodeo isn't completely gone but I don't know what I want to happen. In a perfect world I'd like to see a groundswell of support for the cowboys that would prompt the rodeo to bring back the events in question. I still can't for the life of me understand why team roping was banned, one of the safest forms of roping?

Barring that, I'd like to see the rodeo suffer from its bad decisions but that's a tough one as well because it means the cowboys will suffer too. Either way I do think that the CPRA should drop their sanctioning, if Cloverdale truly wants to strike out on their own, then good luck to them.

Perhaps at the very least this will wake up a silent majority to the threat of the extreme animal rights movement. We need to hear more from those who do not hold extreme views and realize the benefits of protecting a noble tradition.

Rodeo traditions and techniques, when followed correctly, are neither cruel nor inhumane.

Tell me what your opinion is on this fiasco in the rodeo forum...