Billboards are popping up urging people to skip an iconic Calgary Stampede event
Billboards are popping up around Calgary protesting a long-standing and controversial event at the Stampede.
The billboards, released by the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS), encourage Calgarians to shift their perspectives around the Stampede rodeo and chuckwagon races.
They include messages like the rodeo is “No fun for the animals,” and “Rodeo animals aren’t performing. They’re suffering.”
Vancouver Humane Society
Vancouver Humane Society
The Humane Society also released statistics from a Research Co. poll which found that over half of Calgarians oppose government funding for rodeo events.
The same poll also found that over half of Albertans disagreed with the use of animals in steer wrestling, calf roping, and bronc riding.
In a press release, the Humane Society also pointed out that despite these statistics, the “Calgary Stampede receives about six million in taxpayer dollars from the provincial government each year, as well as support from the municipality.”
Vancouver Humane Society
“The billboards encourage people to rethink supporting events that cause animal suffering,” said VHS’s Chantelle Archambault. “You can see the fear in the eyes of calves being roped at high speeds and steers having their necks twisted back until they fall to the ground. It’s not entertainment; it’s cruelty.”
The VHS says 105 animals have died at the Stampede since it began tracking fatalities in 1986, including 75 horses used in the chuckwagon races, which it says could be contributing to the public backlash.
The billboards are being run as part of the Rodeo Truth project, a collaboration between the VHS and concerned Calgarians.
The Calgary Stampede is set to kick off on July 5 and run until July 14.