Written by Michelle Kretzer
Just envisioning horses crammed inside two shallow levels of a double-decker trailer intended for cattle, it's easy to see how these tall animals would be cramped, uncomfortable, and terrified. But forcing horses to squeeze into these confined spaces is more than uncomfortable—it can cause falls, injuries, trampling, and even death.
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill that would ban transporting horses in double-deckers, but one congressmember has proposed a last-minute amendment that would strike that provision from the bill. Rep. Cory Gardner of Colorado is asking Congress to approve his amendment to the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act because he feels the ban on double-decker trailers targets Western states and rodeos.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already acknowledged that these trailers are unsafe and inhumane for horses and has banned transporters from taking horses to slaughter in them.
Inexplicably, it is not illegal to transport horses in double-deckers for any other purpose—but it should be. Ask your representative to support the humane treatment of horses and oppose Gardner's amendment that strips away their protection.
Written by Jeff Mackey
The always remarkable Bob Barker has sent urgent letters to the major sponsors of the cruel Calgary Stampede encouraging them to take PETA's advice and end their support of the deadly event.
Bob leapt into action after The Price Is Right—the game show he hosted for 35 years—began giving away prize packages that contained trips to the Stampede and to SeaWorld. Shortly afterward, Bob contacted the program's producers to ask them to stop promoting cruel animal spectacles on the show.
Now Bob has gone the extra mile by writing to some of the main companies that sponsor the Stampede—including Bell Canada, General Motors of Canada Limited, and Anheuser-Busch International—detailing the kinds of animal suffering that their money will be funding and urging them to withdraw their financial backing from the event.
Rodeos are always catastrophic for animals, but the Calgary Stampede is among the worst since they allow the use of barbaric devices that are illegal in many other countries, including electric prods and bucking straps (which are tightened around the animals' groins) in order to irritate and enrage the animals.
During last year's stampede, one horse had to be euthanized after breaking a leg on the very first day, and the previous year's event cost six horses their lives. And that's on top of the excruciating injuries—including broken bones, punctured lungs, internal bleeding and bruising, and torn tendons, ligaments, and muscles—suffered by many of the surviving animals.
Calgary Reviews | cc by 2.0
As Bob tells the Stampede sponsors, "Surely no one would be cheering a nine-day display of violence if the terrified horses and calves were cats and dogs. I hope you will agree that no animal deserves to suffer like this in the name of a tradition that should have died out with the covered wagon's last ride."
Please join PETA and Bob Barker in telling the producer of The Price Is Right never again to offer trips to SeaWorld or the Calgary Stampede as prizes.
Written by PETA
An outbreak of a deadly equine herpes virus has corralled rodeos and other events throughout the Southwest—including the Davis County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Junior Queen Contest, which didn't let the outbreak send its competition out to pasture. Instead, the aspiring rodeo queens put on their Sunday best ten-gallon hats and competed with … wait for it … stick horses.
Stick horses! Why didn't we think of that? The benefits of using stick horses instead of horses made of flesh and blood are almost too many to count. And if stick horses break, they can be fixed with glue—instead of being sent to the glue factory.
Being hauled in trailers from one rodeo to the next can leave horses exhausted and susceptible to illness, and horses used in barrel-racing and bucking events can suffer life-threatening injuries—including broken legs, necks, and backs—which is why we would like to modestly propose that all rodeos switch to stick steeds. Wouldn't you much rather see a cowboy trying to cling to a bucking birch or loop a lasso around a larch?
If you live in an area where rodeos are held, contact PETA for help organizing a protest.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
Update: Six horses died during this year's Calgary Stampede. Please take action and ask the Stampede sponsors to disassociate themselves from the event.
As if Canada's annual seal massacre isn't enough, the Calgary Stampede adds to the country's annual death toll. This year it's rodeo business as usual—five horses have already died and the event doesn't end until Sunday.
A fifth horse died yesterday 40 minutes after being forced to participate in the chuckwagon races. These are the Stampede's deadliest events, in which teams of four horses pull old-fashioned "pioneer" wagons around a track at breakneck speed—and often break their bodies as a result. In previous years, we've written to all the sponsors of these endurance races asking them to pull the plug, and we've called upon the chief crown prosecutor to file cruelty-to-animals charges. The Humane Society of Canada has also called for a boycott of the event. So far, except for the death rattle of the horses and the yahooing of the crowd, silence!
Please get everyone you know to tell those who are still sponsoring the Calgary Stampede that the chuckwagon races must be canceled permanently.
2010 is already shaping up to be a clawsome year for lobsters! First, Kalahari Resorts dropped Lobster Zone machines from all its locations, and now Doc Ryan's—a bar in Illinois—has also made the humane choice to remove the "game." After we urged people to take action, it took a mere 24 hours (take that, Jack Bauer!) for Doc Ryan's owner, Brian Sullivan, to decide to abandon the machines altogether. After speaking with a concerned customer, Sullivan learned about the cruelty behind the Lobster Zone game and, as an animal lover, told us he would never want to promote a machine that torments lobsters. For Sullivan's swift act of compassion, we're sending him flowers.
The Lobster Zone is an arcade-like "game" that allows its users to grab at terrified lobsters using a joystick-controlled crane. Once caught, the lobsters are dropped down a chute before they're boiled or cut up alive. Restaurants owners often aren't aware of the cruelty inherent in these machines. Lobsters are naturally very solitary animals. In the wild, they take long-distance seasonal journeys and can cover 100 miles or more each year. They become miserable and sick when they're confined to tiny, filthy tanks. Helping lobsters at bars and restaurants can be as easy as telling a restaurant's manager or owner these compelling facts and asking everyone you know to do the same. (And when that doesn't work, PETA will take the case!)
Written by Logan Scherer
P.S. We've also learned that Doc Ryan's serves a delicious veggie burger (and is open to even more vegan suggestions), so the next time you're near Forest Park, Illinois, be sure to thank Brian Sullivan by stopping in for dinner.
"When I was trying to work her out, I kept saying to myself, 'She is a punk-rock, vegan pacifist.' So I listened to a lot of Blondie, I watched a lot of Greta Garbo movies, and I looked at a lot of the artwork of Dan Flavin." —Anne Hathaway on what inspired her character in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
The movie hits theaters on March 5, and that very important date is already in my planner—but I'm having a hard time choosing a favorite character. Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter or Anne Hathaway's vegan-inspired White Queen? Oh dear.
Written by Shawna Flavell
TV psychic John Edward's got nothing on this clairvoyant cat. Oscar, who lives in a Rhode Island nursing home, has supposedly predicted the deaths of about 50 people over five years by curling up next to patients right before they take their final breath. His purdictions are so reliable that the nursing home's employees know it's time to call family members when Oscar, who will scratch at the doors and walls of rooms holding the soon-to-be-deceased, reclines alongside someone. And Dr. David Dosa—a professor at Brown University—has become so intrigued by and attached to the snuggly soothsayer that he has written a book about him called Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat, which will be released this week.
We're totally meowed by Oscar's apparent psychic talent. You?
On my list of life's simple pleasures, right below "Cuddling with my cat during our Project Runway marathon": a cold beer, a pair of perfectly worn blue jeans, and a basketful of fried tofu. I'm not alone here: The Grammy Award–winning Zac Brown Band agrees with me—well, at least about the cold beer and blue jeans.
But I'm optimistic that the band will also be singing the praises of soy after it ponders PETA's proposal. We've asked the band members, who sing about their love of freedom in "Chicken Fried," to consider what life is like for chickens and other animals who are kept in constant confinement on filthy, crowded factory farms before they're cruelly slaughtered. We've also offered to partner with Zac and the band on a vegan "eat and greet" for fans on their upcoming West Coast tour. And to make our offer even more tempting, we've sent the band members a basket of delicious, protein-rich faux meats.
So now we wait to hear back from Zac and the rest of the band. In the meantime, I've started veganizing lyrics to some of my favorite country classics. Darling Dolly's "Jolene" becomes "Gardein," for example. Ante up by listing your favorite veganized honky-tonk tune in the comments section below.
Written by Karin Bennett
Well, I'm tickled pink as a pig's bottom—Kelly Clarkson has ditched her July 9th performance at the Calgary Stampede. The annual rodeo exhibition means 10 days of cruelty, including catastrophic and often fatal injuries for horses and bulls—not really the best venue for an animal-loving vegetarian like Kelly.
Our thanks to the pop star are on their way!
While it's widely accepted that most people don't want an eight-second ride, we now have an excellent, bull-free alternative for those of you who, for whatever reason, do: Urban Rodeo!
The concept is like that of a regular rodeo. Mount an unwilling participant and hold on for dear life, marking your success by how long you can stay latched on to the bucking, bewildered beast. The only difference between this and other rodeos is the ropes, spurs, and other cruelty involved, such as internal injuries and extensive bruising. Oh, and I seriously doubt participants in the "Urban Rodeo" are shipped off to slaughter once they've outlived their usefulness. However, similar to a regular rodeo, participants are encouraged to "leg it" immediately after being tossed from the animal in order to avoid injury.
Got any other clever ideas that could serve as an alternative to a performing animal act or rodeo? Let me know—who knows, I might give your idea a shot and see how it works out!
Written by Sean Conner
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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