Vancouver Humane Society Anti-Stampede Ad in the Herald

[Canada 02]

A year after its failed effort to buy an anti-Stampede advertisement sparked an uproar in Calgary, the Vancouver Humane Society has found a taker.



The group has purchased a full-page, $15,000 ad set to appear in Monday’s Calgary Herald, the city’s largest circulation newspaper that had first rejected the Vancouver Humane Society a year ago. The ad targets calf-roping, one of the long-tenured events of the city’s iconic Stampede, and features a photo of a tied-down calf under the banner, “That’s entertainment?”



It’s a tamer version of an ad last year that called a rancher a “bully.” This year’s version includes no mention of the Stampede itself, which begins this week.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1627990/

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I'd love to see a poll on this. Many rural Albertans I know staunchly defend rodeo and yet many Calgarians I have discussed this with think some of the events are rather cruel.

I'm torn on the issue. I think some of the events like calf roping seem a little bit archaic but bull riding is rather harmful for the riders and the bulls, at least from my understanding, are treated reasonably well. I guess the travel for the animals might not be fun though.

[KTrain]

The Calgary Humane Society is smart enough to avoid trying these tactics. They know much of the city would turn on them if they tried the same sort of advertising.

Calf roping does seem a little overboard to me. Unless it's kids roping calves. That seems fair. Everything else is fine by me.

[DownhillGoat]

No, that really is not entertainment.

I find roping baby seals much more entertaining.

[Azure]

Question you gotta ask is do the calves get hurt?

Growing up on a farm/ranch you always had to rope calves to treat them as such. Just the way of the job.

Seems like a waste of $15,000 to me though.

[zarrell]

That is pure entertainment. Now if only they could have more of that and less of the filler at the rodeo I might consider going.

[Bertuzzied]

Bull fighting is the most cruel animal sport. They totally need to get away from that. Just completely pointless.

How much of a 'sport' is it when they run the bull around the arena for hours to tire it out before it is set to face the matador?

[GGG]

Their adds look very similar to the Stampedes Rodeo adds.

I wonder if people will notice the difference. If they included a link to ticketmaster to buy tickets I probably wouldn't notice. I don't think this is as effective as a cute baby seal with a pike through his head bleeding out on to the white snow.

[starseed]

Well, I suppose that is $15,000 that the Vancouver Humane Society will not be able to use on substances used in euthanizing the animals under their care. As for calf roping, if you don't want to immerse yourself in the ranching culture, simply avoid that portion of the stampede.

[Devils'Advocate]

I don't think that is how it works. "I am against gay people being beat up. Therefore I won't beat up gay people. Thus gay people will never get beat up."

[Resolute 14]

Yes it is entertainment.

Get lost Vancouver.

[Cowperson]

Pure entertainment. On the other hand, the steer below isn't veal yet so there's the upside. Steer wrestling in High River a few weeks ago . . . .



It's a lot easier to defend rodeo if the comparison is bull fighting. And I do go to rodeo a fair bit to take photo's . . . .

But it's hard to defend rodeo and chucks on a basic principle. So I don't.

Cowperson

[killer_carlson]

it's Alberta tradition. It's Calgary tradition.

People in Vancouver need to understand that just because something is "traditional" doesn't make it a bad thing.

[worth]

Yep, it's entertainment. Don't have a problem with it.

[Regulator75]

I don't enjoy anything to do with any rodeo what so ever.

It seems a tad barbaric and redneck driven, I bet these guys started the balls on the hitch fad too.

When the Stampede hits, this cities IQ drops to the level of Edmonton's.

[HeartsOfFire]

No, THAT'S why I never donate any money to your charity.

Originally Posted by killer__carlson

People in Vancouver need to understand that just because something is "traditional" doesn't make it a bad thing.

By that logic, ought we not view smoking cannabis with a more open mind? That's B.C. tradition, is it not?

[GirlySports]

I'm going to derail this a bit.
How come horse racing is a classy rich sport where people attend in formal wear and big hats yet rodeo is barbaric?

[Devils'Advocate]

I think it's entertaining. I think throwing Christians to the lions was probably pretty entertaining. We have people wanting death penalty executions on TV because it's entertaining. Heck, dog fighting has a huge following. Watching violence and suffering is entertaining.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I think it's entertaining. I think throwing Christians to the lions was probably pretty entertaining. We have people wanting death penalty executions on TV because it's entertaining. Heck, dog fighting has a huge following. Watching violence and suffering is entertaining.

Well with all but one of those the intentional outcome of the event is death. do you truely not see the difference?

[Cowperson]

More entertainment. . . . . the death of a horse at the 2007 chuckwagons in High River.

The far left lead horse is dropping dead of a heart attack at the finish line, just as I'm shooting the photo below. The driver is reigning in and the guy in the red shirt is looking over, wondering why. The chuckwagon tour is well prepared for this kind of thing. A big screen was hurriedly put up in front of the scene, blocking the crowd out, and about 20 minutes to half an hour later, the show went on. If I'm not mistaken, Humane Society observors are invited to all of these events and were present at this one as well.



Cowperson