Bull-Riding, New York City
by Edita Birnkrant
Last weekend, I stood with Friends of Animals activists and dozens of supporters to protest the violent scenes taking place in at Madison Square Garden at the Professional Bull Riders 2008 Versus International Competition. We held posters and handed out Bull Riding: An Event Guide.
Inside, bulls were being tested for steroids; outside, our demonstration was greeted by city bull-riding fans, some of them drunk, grabbing their testicles and shouting “You’re crazy!”
“I love steak!”
“Free Michael Vick!”
They swaggered and laughed, waving their cowboy hats, aiming cameras at us and our signs. Many took our flyers and ripped them up in our faces and then threw them away. Finger-pointing, red-faced cowboys told me how ignorant I was. “Yeehaw!”
Some people were respectful and were grateful to take our flyers, and asked serious questions, including passersby not attending the bull riding show.
A couple passed by, the woman reached out and took a flyer and smiled. The man turned to her, ripped the flyer out of her hand, stomped back toward me and ripped up the flyer. He glared at me triumphantly.
But aggressive reactions to our presence were not limited to men only. A drunken woman yelled, inches from my face, until the cops pulled her away.
For passing out educational flyers that depicted the reality behind the “sport” of bull-riding, such as the tight flank straps and metal spurs and electric prods that inflict anger and pain on the bulls to provoke the convulsive bucking necessary for scoring, I was called a whore.
At least two ticket-holders who, upon reading our flyers, decided that they could no longer attend the event. For them, Friends of Animals provided a critical element of disagreement with disrespect and domination portrayed as entertainment. Our continued opposition creates the possibility of a society that chooses respect over oppression.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) -A global a news network covering events from around the world 24/7.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5is4uAqO8sNi-xl1MdVdUfD3Rn1oQ
(Jan 9) coverage in the New York Observer:
http://www.observer.com/2008/yee-ha-bull-s-ball-garden
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10 Comments
On January 9, 2008, Elaine Vigneault wrote:
Good job. You did a great job.
I’m sorry someone called you names. But I’m glad you wrote about it. It’s important to show exactly where the violence is coming from - it ain’t the animal activists.
On January 11, 2008, dave wrote:
comon,look at the iq level your dealing with.drunken idiots watching other idiots abuse animals and finding it entertaining. they must have bused these people in because most new yorkers would not waste there time or money on this type of event.the drunks you came across wont even remember seeing you or the show the next day.its odd that a rodeo would even come to n.y., out west they might find somebody who actually cares about rodeos,but if its not about the yankees,mets,jets or giants, it just doesnt fly. its a pity that some people dont know how to act normal and listen to both sides of a issue with out making a fool of themselves, but as i said, they must have bused these people in that you came across, they definitly do not represent any new yorkers i know off. keep up the good work.
On January 13, 2008, Lee Hall of Friends of Animals wrote:
You have said rodeo events are great sports. But you are not a bull, horse or calf. They can’t be described as sharing your perspective, can they? Animals don’t choose these activities; we do.
No one is saying not to have fun. We are asking readers to consider making a conscious decision to stop supporting the coercion and exploitation of other animals. Many ways to have fun don’t involve harming or exploiting other animals.
It’s quite obvious that the rodeo involves harmful use of other animals. Take roping events, in which calves are forced to run out of the chute, reaching speeds of 30 mph, only to have their necks snapped back by a lasso. The faster they run, the harder they hit the ground.
As Tom Regan writes, “So here we have today’s brave cowboy, bending over and tying up a frightened, dazed, disoriented baby (the animals are all of four to five months old), with neck or back injuries, bruises, broken bones, and internal hemorrhages.” Some calves, Regan explains, “do not do encores. It’s one performance and out. They either die in the dust or soon after.”
As a vet who has witnessed the injuries explains, this slamming to the ground causes severed tracheas or spinal columns, and the rupture of internal organs, and often a resultant slow death.
“And they call this ‘sport.’”
- Tom Regan, EMPTY CAGES (2004), citing E.J. Finocchio, DVM.
On January 16, 2008, Fabiano Muner wrote:
Thank you for the article. I do not how bullriding can be considered “sport”. Somehow these riders are seen as being “athletes” and even “showing courage”! I do not understand how getting on the back of a frightened,antagonized, and abused animal can be considered entertaining. This exhibition is merely one step removed from bull fighting.
On January 17, 2008, Rae wrote:
Your right, everyone does have their own opinion. But! I do not understand how city people can say they wouldn’t do these things to a bull when they would be too grossed out to get a little dirt under their nails, let alone get cow crap on them to help an animal out if it was needed. You can take your flyers and all your other “stuff” to the right place at the right time so that when you try to get your point acrossed it adds to the affect. But do you even know what it takes to raise cattle? Do you know why they were put on this earth by our creator… God?
If you have ever been around cattle then you would know how stubborn they can be and how tough they are. Cattle aren’t humans, and they shouldn’t be treated like them either. I’m not saying that spurs and electric prods cant be abusive, because they can be if you use them in that way. What i am saying is that sometimes those things are needed to get the animal to do what you need them to do.
Call it cruel to use buck straps, spurs and electric prods, but the buck strap is just what it says it is. A (buck)strap, it is to make them buck and that is all it does. The buck strap is an annoyance not pain, same with the spurs. Spurrs aren’t pointy, so its not like it punctures the skin, and the kicking of a human leg is NOTHING compared to the kick of another bull that he might be fighting with, or even a cow that not ready to be mounted. So its hard to “abuse a bull with either of those things. The electric prod is where things might get out of hand sometimes. If you have ever tried to get a cow to go forward and they wont, but you need them to you would know how handy those things are. If they bad for a bull then a human would not be able to accidently touch be touched by them and still stand up. Humans get a nice shock from it. Its only abusive if you use it abusively.
Thank you for your time!
On January 28, 2008, jay wrote:
First I’d like to say not all rodeo fans are drunken, crotch grapping idiots like the article portrays. Maybe that behaviors relects New York’s more closely. As a rancher I deal with cattle and horses on a daily basis. All of my animals are treated with the best care and respect. I agree with Rae, that Bulls are incredibly thick skinned and it does not hurt them to be spurred or prodded compared to another bull kicking or horning them.
As far as bucking straps being placed on their genitals, that’s not true. Let me give you an anatomy lesson. Bulls and horse’s genitals are located between and to the rear of the back legs, bucking straps go in front of the back legs around the flanks. A top quality bull and his offspring are worth their weight in gold and they would not risk compromising a bull’s reproductive abilities for mere entertainment. Animal activist should be happy they test for steroids, that shows that event producers are promoting better animal practices. Rodeo is a multi-million dollar industry.
As far as the treatment of these bulls behind the chute, city folk may not know that these animals are worth more then most of your houses. It is not rare for a bull to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not let me ask you, do you really think a rancher is going let those animals get mistreated? I guarantee those animals get better treatments then your pet dog.
Rodeo celebrates american history. Farmers, ranchers and cowboys are the very foundation of this country. A history I’m sure many of your ancestors took part in.
[Blog editors’ note: Bullroar in total. A contest between male apes and male bovines who have been outfitted with a flank strap, just for starters, and whose last stop is a slaughterhouse, is not worth celebrating, nor is it worth defending in 2008.]
On February 12, 2008, cowboy88 wrote:
your nothing more than an extremeist group bent on destroying everything that our fore fathers faught for. its more than a rodeo its way of life and if you could open your damn eyes long enough to see that these animals are better taken care of than alot of people that ive see you would relieze that you are in fact completely wrong.
COWBOY UP
[Blog editors’ note: Among anyone’s ancestors are mothers, too, and some fought for rights that extend beyond a physical assault on another. Caring for anyone doesn’t involve abuse you’re heralding. When cowboys grow up what’s next?]
On March 12, 2008, A wrote:
Seriously what the hell is the point!? You really want change, boycott styrofoam or something else. Some people just need a damn case to justify their worthless existence or to prescribe meaning to their life. Enjoy your life, we’ll enjoy ours and stay out of our hair, K?
On February 4, 2009, S.Dancer wrote:
I’m not meaning to be rude. Just curious. Have any of the animal rights activists been to a rodeo and enjoyed the entertainment? If so, what made them want to support FoA?
[Blog editors’ note: What’s entertaining about tormenting a bull and acting like a fool? Bull-riding is both offensive and ridiculous. Same goes for the spectators.]
On September 7, 2012, Iseult Bourke wrote:
Ive been watching bullriding and I am nauseated by this disgusting and ridiculous so-called sport. It beggars belief that in a so-called civilized society, people still wish to terrorise and brutalise animals. Any normal person can understand that these animals are terrified , trapped in tiny pens, tortured with ropes and weights that they cannot understand. When they get out, they just want to escape. The sooner these rodeos, relics of a brutal past, are banned , the better.