Animal Protesters Ignored at Rodeo

[Carolyn Bailey]

Ronnie Lee suggested in a recent podcast that sometimes protesters protest because it makes them feel good about themselves, even though their protests may not be effective. According to this story, this protest may not have been effective. Do you think people should do this anyway, or are there more effective forms of advocacy for people to engage in? 

 

 

 

Chanting animal rights activists were a tough sell Saturday for Calgary Stampede-goers who paid protesters no more mind than the barking midway carnies.

About two dozen protesters bearing homemade signs lined the grass outside the Victoria Park LRT station with cardboard tombstones on Saturday afternoon.

Activists calling for an end to calf roping and chuckwagon racing chanted slogans and used a bullhorn to shout: “Stampede OK, rodeo no.”

The activists said they want to send a message that ticket buyers are supporting cruel treatment of animals for their entertainment.

Jeremy Thomas is calling on people to boycott the events until the rodeo and chuckwagon races are no longer part of the Stampede.

“As long as horses are put at risk, we will boycott,” said Thomas, a member of Calgary Animal Rights Effort.

With Stampede-goers streaming past the placard-carrying protesters, few stopped to talk or take notice of the peaceful protest.

“I just wish they’d get educated,” said Norm Jessup, who brushed past with friends. “I doubt most of them have ever even set foot on a farm.”

Other passersby voiced swear words and made obscene finger gestures. Motorists honked horns, and one cowboy-hatted driver drove past slowly, silently shaking his head in disagreement.

The group, which organized the Friday night and Saturday afternoon meet-ups online, is calling for an end to rodeo events and chuckwagon racing, in the wake of multiple animal deaths over the decades.

On Thursday night, three horses died after a chuckwagon crash. Officials say the lead horse collapsed after suffering a ruptured aneurysm, taking down three other horses and an outrider. One injured horse survived.

Although the reception by passing pedestrians was “tepid” and “lukewarm,” the group was happy to continue chanting and shouting to spread the message, said protester Phillip van der Merwe.

“I saw it online and thought I’d put my actions where my mouth is.”

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/calgary/Animal+rights+activists...

 

 

[Monique]

I don’t think most protests are effective.  I have a feeling that a protest will only be taken seriously if there are a lot of people involved.   Six people (for example) standing alongside the entrance to a circus or rodeo is too few.  

Such a small number conveys the subliminal message that this is a weird extremist group, that “normal” people don’t feel this way.   So long as we persist in transmitting this image of animal rights being a cultish fringe belief we are hampering our own efforts to get the mainstream to listen seriously to our POV.

[Kylie Glessing]

I don't think these kinds of protests are at all effective, and I think they make animal activists laughable to the masses.  Also, rodeo is a tough one because people see their whole way of life coming under attack and immediately get defensive and angry.  These people live on farms and support their families through animal exploitation and through generations of doing so have been deeply conditioned to believe it's okay to do so.  Waving placards around and chanting is NOT going to get through to these folks.  And while I don't mean to stereotype, rodeo-goers are not the most open-minded folks--they very much embody conservative values and machismo sentiments.  I think that protesting rodeos will not be effective in getting rid of them--that protest must be taken to a higher level than standing outside the rodeo grounds chanting.  Just my two cents.