Activists to Picket Pierce College Rodeo

Animal rights activists plan to picket Pierce College’s 38th annual rodeo today to draw public attention to what they claim is cruelty to animals.

The picketing has become an annual event at the two-day rodeo, which ends Sunday and benefits the school’s animal science program.

Santa Monica-based Animal Emancipation Inc. claims in a statement that animals used in the show are “subjected to a variety of torments,” including electric shock, constricting of their abdomens and genitals with leather straps, tail twisting and tripping.

During calf-roping events, the statement says, “infant animals are forced to run to speeds of up to 30 miles per hour and then have their necks violently snapped back via taut ropes.”

Rodeo organizers say the activists distort facts and play on people’s emotions to raise money for their organizations. Many of the alleged abuses, such as tripping animals and twisting their tails, are prohibited under rules established by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assn., organizers say. They also dispute the activists’ claims that animals’ abdomens and genitals are constricted with leather straps to make them buck. The animals, organizers say, are bred to buck naturally.