Rodeos are barbaric
How is it possible that watching animals suffer is considered a source of entertainment?
A horse breaks its neck and dies…. and that is just collateral damage all in the name of good old family fun? Rodeos are barbaric.
Anyone who partakes, or is a spectator of these ghastly events is complicit in animal abuse and torture.
Wendy Ledner
Salinas
Follow the rules, stop exploiting animals
This proud American was extremely distressed to hear that in the context of the recent Gilroy Rodeo the saddle bronc mare Cow Palace lost her young life.
I am aware of the harms that can come to the sentient animals often exploited in this display of male domination which is the reason why I do not endorse these events. While I can admire horse riding skills, the facts mount related to the injuries that occur on a regular basis and this I find totally unacceptable.
Apparently, according to CCPRA rules, there was an attending veterinarian on hand when this lethal injury occurred and that this injury needs to have a report submitted to the State Veterinary Medical Board as part of the Public Record, which is currently not available.
If we ever wish there to be more attendees at such events, it is imperative that all the rules be followed so as to assure the public that indeed the participating animals are respected and protected as any humane society expects.
While these harms continue and are not fully accounted for, it is understandable that many horse loving persons will stay away.
Elaine Livesey-Fassel
Los Angeles
State legislation should be updated
Kudos to reporter Calvin Nuttall for his Aug. 29 in-depth coverage of the death of the saddle bronc mare at the August 8, 2025 Gilroy Rodeo—much appreciated.
California boasts the most comprehensive (only?) rodeo law in the country, Penal Code 596.7, the result of 1999 legislation carried by Oakland Sen. Don Perata, sponsored by ACTION FOR ANIMALS, and enacted in 2000. The law was amended in 2007 so as to cover the Mexican charreadas, common throughout California.
Yet another amendment is in order. Presently, the code allows for an “on-call veterinarian” option. This option should be dropped, thereby requiring an ON-SITE veterinarian at every California rodeo and charreada. Rodeo injuries generally require immediate attention.
Racetracks, horse shows and endurance rides all require on-site veterinarians—so should all rodeos and charreadas. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) has required on-site vets only since 1996, after FIVE animals died at the 1995 California Rodeo/Salinas (I was there).
Legislation is in order—let your reps hear from you! “Tie-down calf roping” and the charreada’s brutal “steer tailing” event should also be outlawed. Alameda County outlawed “steer tailing” in 1993, followed by Contra Costa County in 1994. The State of Nebraska banned “steer tailing” in 2008. See the many online YouTube videos.
All California state legislators may be written c/o The State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814.
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Eric Mills, Coordinator ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Oakland
Condemn all cruelty to animals
How many animals must suffer and die before rodeo is put out to pasture? Even after a mare broke her neck and died, the Gilroy Rodeo went on as scheduled.
Countless animals have paid with their lives to satisfy people’s desire to play cowboy. Cattle are zapped with electric hotshots so they’ll charge out of the chute, calves have their necks twisted as they are violently slammed into the ground, and horses are viciously spurred into bucking.
Animals have suffered broken backs and necks, heart attacks and aneurysms. Those who manage to make it through unscathed are given little time to rest or recuperate. They are loaded into trucks, hauled to the next event, and forced to participate over and over again.
“Retirement” is a one-way trip to the slaughterhouse.
In 2025, when cruelty to animals is condemned, the rodeo mindset must evolve.
Jennifer O’Connor, PETA Foundation
Norfolk, Va.
Several years ago, 8 horses were killed in the chuckwagon race at the Calgary rodeo. Every year, animals are injured and die in rodeos. Dr. Robert Bay from Colorado autopsied roping calves and found hemorrhages, torn muscles, torn ligaments, damage to the trachea, damage to the throat and damage to the thyroid. These calves never get a chance to heal before they are used again. Meat inspectors including Drs. Haber and Fetzner who processed rodeo animals found broken bones, ruptured internal organs, massive amounts of blood in the abdomen from ruptured blood vessels and damage to the ligamentum nuchae that holds the neck to the rest of the spinal column.
Dr. C. G. Haber, a veterinarian with thirty years of experience as a USDA meat inspector, stated “The rodeo folks send their animals to the packing houses where I have seen cattle so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached was the head, neck, legs, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and at times puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as two and three gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin.”
Time to end this torture and death of sentient animals.
AGREED! The United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales) outlawed all of rodeo back in 1934, followed by the Netherlands. Can the U.S. be far behind? Most of rodeo is macho hype having little to do with life on a working ranch. It’s a macho exercise in DOMINATION. It needs to end. Legislation is in order: local, state, federal. FOLLOW THE MONEY.
HELLO