Ban rodeos in Santa Barbara, CA

[Guest guest]

Info from Simon Oswitch of Animal Emancipation (AE) at

aeinc

 

BACKGROUND INFO:

---

AE spoke before the Santa Barbara Mayor and City Council today

(August 22) regarding their involvement with the Santa Barbara Fiesta

Rodeo. Not surprisingly, the Mayor again denied that the City was

involved with the event even when we produced oversized reproductions

of the City seal used in recent rodeo promotions (see below)! When

she tried to distance the City with her now ubiquitous denials at the

conclusion of our speeches I firmly raised my voice from the back of

the Council Hall admonishing her to stop misleading the tax payers of

Santa Barbara. Local media covered all of this and now the real work

begins in once more trying to halt the channeling of City tax dollars

to promote this event.

 

More background info:

 

AE has been protesting the Fiesta Rodeo for over a decade and in that

time two horses have been killed: one in 1995 and another last

summer. As you may recall from an Action Alert in August 1999, a

horse used in the bucking event named Colonel died from a skull

fracture after running/bucking at full speed and then smashing head-

first into the arena wall at the Earl Warren Showgrounds.

Contradicting claims that rodeo proponents never risk the safety of

so-called " valuable " animals, Colonel was said to be worth 50K and

was scheduled for the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Rodeo

Finals last December in Las Vegas. Local NBC affiliate KSBY captured

the horrific event in its entirety and aired it many times not only

last summer but also this year. Tri-County residents were outraged

and many have joined our campaign to halt this rodeo.

 

In 1995, Fiesta Rodeo organizers improperly corralled a bull and a

horse resulting in the latter being gored to death. Panicked, a

person not associated with law enforcement, fired a gun at the

hemorrhaging, dying animal missing on three occasions. This occurred

in front of a crowded arena that included children. One even wrote

to the Santa Barbara News Press poignantly decrying what she had

witnessed.

 

I went before the Santa Barbara Mayor and City Council on both

occasions and they have steadfastly denied any involvement with the

rodeo. However, it was reported in the September 19, 1995 News Press

that the City allots thousands of tax dollars each year to the non-

profit Fiesta organizer - Old Spanish Days (OSD). OSD promotes all

Fiesta events including the rodeo. This is evident from their web

site(http://www.oldspanishdays-fiesta.org ) that devotes a full page

to the rodeo. Also, the web site enumerates Fiesta sponsors and this

year classifies the City as a " Titanium Sponsor " - with the City seal

hotlinked to the page. There is no question that the City is

involved in this pernicious arrangement: channeling tax dollars into

the promotion of events that by default include the rodeo. They

certainly have an active voice therein.

 

This year, the City's involvement has become more evident: the City

seal appeared on page 31 in the Fiesta 2000 Rodeo program and was

also included in an August 3 rodeo advertisement that appeared in the

News Press. Given this, the City is not only funding OSD but also

raising an affirmative voice for the rodeo itself. Literally, they

have placed the City's stamp of approval on an event so brutal that

it has killed two animals over a four-year period. Prior to this

year's rodeo, I received an unsolicited August 3 letter from Miller

that stated: " The City of Santa Barbara is not involved in any way in

the sponsorship of the rodeo. " Clearly, this is not the case.

 

What You Can Do.

 

Last year many of you sent email messages to the Mayor and City

Council and received similar denials. I am currently asking you to

write to them again politely but firmly informing them that their

denials are no longer plausible. It is obvious that due to the

inclusion of the City seal in recent advertisements they are now

highly involved with the continuation of this event. If you are a

Santa Barbara resident remind them that you will not vote for any of

them - and actively campaign against them - if they do not clearly

and unequivocally halt this unjustifiable arrangement. You may also

advise that you will attend any budgetary hearings for next year's

Fiesta and oppose continued City funding. If you reside outside of

Santa Barbara, forewarn them that you, your family and friends will

boycott the city until this unseemly arrangement ceases. Since Santa

Barbara is largely a tourist community, such sentiments will be

received with seriousness.

 

Once more, thank you for your help and please let me know if you

receive replies! Also, don't hesitate to forward this alert to

concerned parties! Contact me with any questions, etc. If anyone

from the City replies with their typical disingenuous, misleading

remarks, let me know (aeinc ) We *must* have the final

say in this!

 

SEND TO:

(you can address correspondence to Miller and cc the others):

 

Mayor Harriet Miller

hmiller

 

Marty Blum, Mayor Pro-Tempore

mblum

 

Gilbert Garcia, Ordinance Committee Chair

ggarcia

 

Dan B. Secord, M.D., Finance Committee Chair

dsecord

 

Harold P. " Rusty " Fairly, Council Member

hfairly

 

Gregg A. Hart, Council Member

ghart

 

Tom Roberts, Council Member

tomrinsb

 

Snail Mail, Fax and Phone Information:

 

Mayor Harriet Miller

Santa Barbara City Council

735 Anacapa Street

Post Office Box 1990

Santa Barbara, California 93102-1990

Phone: (805) 963-0611 Fax: (805) 564-5556

 

For additional information see the following:

http://www.aeinc-online.org/Colonel_99.html

 

 

SAMPLE LETTER

(letter based on PETA fact sheet)

***Don't forget to sign***

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

hmiller

 

cc:

mblum , ggarcia ,

dsecord , hfairly ,

ghart , tomrinsb

 

Please stop promoting cruelty to animals--ban rodeo

 

Dear Mayor Miller and Santa Barbara City Council members,

 

I am outraged that the city of Santa supports and promotes such a

cruel and barbaric event as the Santa Barbara Fiesta Rodeo. I urge

you not only to disaffiliate your city government from this event,

but also to ban rodeo entirely from the city of Santa Barbara.

 

In the last decade two horses have been killed in this event: one in

1995 and another last summer. In August 1999, a horse used in the

bucking event named Colonel died from a skull fracture after

running/bucking at full speed and then smashing head-first into the

arena wall at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. In 1995, Fiesta Rodeo

organizers improperly corralled a bull and a horse resulting in the

latter being gored to death. Panicked, a person not associated with

law enforcement, fired a gun at the hemorrhaging, dying animal

missing on three occasions. This occurred in front of a crowded

arena that included children. One even wrote to the Santa Barbara

News Press poignantly decrying what she had witnessed.

 

Standard rodeo events include calf roping, steer wrestling, bareback

horse and bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer roping, and wild

cow milking. The animals used in rodeos are captive performers. Most

are relatively tame but understandably distrustful of human beings

because of the harsh treatment they have received. Many of these

animals are not aggressive by nature; they are physically provoked

into displaying " wild " behavior to make the cowboys look

brave.

Electric prods, sharp sticks, caustic ointments, and other torturous

devices are used to irritate and enrage animals used in rodeos. The

flank or " bucking " strap used to make horses and bulls buck

is

tightly cinched around their abdomens, where there is no rib cage

protection. Tightened near the large and small intestines and other

vital organs, the belt pinches the groin and genitals. The pain

causes the animals to buck, which is what the rodeo promoters want

the animal to do in order to put on a good show for the crowds.

 

Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat

inspector, worked in slaughterhouses and saw many animals discarded

from rodeos and sold for slaughter. He described the animals as

being " so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the

skin

was attached (to the flesh) were the head, neck, leg, and belly. I

have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and,

at times, puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as two to three

gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin. " These

injuries are a result of animals being thrown in calf roping events

or being jumped on from atop horses during steer wrestling (Humane

Society of the United States, Interview with C.G. Haber, DVM

(Rossburg, Ohio), 1979).

 

Rodeos are promoted as rough and tough exercises of human skill and

courage in conquering the fierce, untamed beasts of the Wild West. In

reality, rodeos are nothing more than manipulative displays of human

domination over animals, thinly disguised as entertainment. What

began in the late 1800s as a skill contest between cowboys has become

a show motivated by greed and profit. Surely, you don't want your

city associated with such a display of brutality. I will not visit

Santa Barbara and will urge others to do the same until you put an

end to this horrible cruelty to animals that is taking place in your

city.

 

Sincerely,

 

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