The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) is launching its ad campaign against calf roping at the Calgary Stampede.
The ad, being published Thursday in a Calgary weekly newspaper, depicts a photo of a diaper-clad baby and a young calf side by side.
Under the photos are the words “Just three months old – Would you abuse a baby to entertain a crowd?”
The average age of a calf used in calf roping is three to four months old.
“We think we have right on our side,” says Peter Fricker of the Vancouver Humane Society.
“We think it’s self-evident that if you chase an animal across an arena, rope it to a sudden halt at very high speeds, pick it up, and throw it to the ground it will cause fear, stress and pain. We think that’s completely immoral and inappropriate for the 21st century.”
The humane society is calling for a ban on calf roping at all rodeos across Canada and specifically wants the Calgary Stampede—which starts Friday—to show the way by dropping the event.
VHS has been running anti-rodeo ads for the past few years. In 2009, Calgary’s two daily newspapers rejected anti-calf roping ads from the Vancouver Humane Society. However, the city’s free weekly newspaper, Fast Forward ran the ad that included a direct reference to the Stampede and showed a cowboy roping and wrestling a calf. The text declared this is “no way to treat a baby. It’s time to ban calf roping.”
The VHS also took some credit for Bell’s decision this week to shift its Stampede sponsorship away from the rodeo to other entertainments events held during the Calgary Stampede.
The Calgary Humane Society says it is also opposed to calf roping, but instead of advocating for a ban, it focuses on regulating the rodeo event in an effort to minimize harm to the animals.
