UPDATE on "What's wrong with rodeos?"

Source.

The League Against Cruel Sports have claimed that e-mails to Clarence House are now being blocked.  Supporters have sent around seven thousand e-mails (well done us!) to William and Kate's representatives asking them to boycott the Calgary Stampede but e-mails started bouncing back on Thursday, unfortunately.

Steve Taylor, head of campaigns at the League has quite rightly said "Burying their head in the sand won't make this issue go away. British people don't want their representatives going to see cruel rodeo events any more than they want them going to a dog fight in Afghanistan, a cock fight in the Philippines, or a public beheading in Saudi Arabia. The cruelty has become the elephant in the room and it's rather rude to block communications rather than respond to the issue."

The League are now considering how to work around this, another option is encouraging supporters to telephone Clarence House expressing their revulsion.  The League have been working closely with the Vancouver Humane Society to highlight this issue.

Alternative?

The Humane Society in Vancouver's are asking their supporters to make a comment on the Clarence House website by clicking here which is a good idea, if you do make a comment please keep it polite and remember to tell your friends!  Thank you.

Read the full article from the League here.

Read the League’s Open Letter to William and Kate here.

What's wrong with Rodeos?

Image provided by Emily Collins, taken at a rodeo in Texas, USA.

Image provided by Emily Collins, taken at a rodeo in Texas, USA.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hare currently visiting North America and Canada.  During their visit to Canada they will be visiting the worlds largest rodeo, Calgary Stampede.  Within the rodeo, Kate and William are likely to view the controversial but popular sport called 'chuckwagon racing' which can result in the death of both horses and their riders.  In the 2009 Calgary Stampede three horses died, also in 2007 three horses were killed during the event in 2007.

What else is wrong with rodeos?

Events such as calf roping, steer wrestling, bareback horse and bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, steer roping and barrel racing means that animals which are normally docile are physically provoked into behaving "wildly" to make the cowboys look brave.

The provocation usually comes in the form of electric prods, spurs and bucking straps.  Before they enter the ring, cows and horses are often prodded with an electrical "hotshot" so that the pain will rile them.

Animals used in rodeos have suffered broken ribs, backs and legs; punctured lungs, internal organ bruising and many more things that I prefer not to print.

Unfortunately, some animals from the rodeo are sold to slaughterhouses and used for meat.

Source (WARNING: Graphic descriptions of animal cruelty)

How to help

Please join me in contacting Clarence House as soon as possible and asking Kate and William to change their planned visit to the Calgary Stampede and boycott rodeos.  Click here to be taken to the League Against Cruel Sports readily prepared message which you can edit before sending.  Just take a few minutes to enter your details.  The message will be sent to Kate and William's Personal Private Secretary and also their Official Spokesman.

If you can post this blog post and/or the League's message at the aforementioned link on Facebook and/or Twitter it would be great, thank you.

P.S. ~ Happy US Independence Day!