I moved to Tucson from Northern California a little over a year ago. Tucson’s gorgeous landscapes, great eateries, liberal bent and community events like Second Saturdays, Cyclovia and All Souls Procession are all points of pride, and make it a lovely place to live.

One point of shame, however, is the city’s association with the rodeo. It’s shocking that a progressive city like Tucson would sanction this kind of blatant animal abuse via its rodeo parade and holidays off from school. Just think about it, if it were dogs being body slammed and violently yanked by their necks to the ground–often sustaining traumatic injury in the process–would anyone be okay with that? Would we be okay with tormenting cats with electric prods and painful bucking straps to make them run and buck in terror? Of course not. Just because the animals used in rodeos are larger in size, doesn’t make brutalizing them in these ways any more acceptable.

 Cultural tradition, sport—those aren’t justifications either. Rodeos are spectacles of cruelty that a city like Tucson should strongly condemn, not condone.

—Kim Flaherty

This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 2, 2016.

13 replies on “Letter to the Editor”

  1. another POLITICALLY CORRECT idiot from somewhere else and a newby to Tucson doesn’t like out lifestyle. Why did you come here? Ans: I’m an idiot.

  2. Please move back to Northern California and take as many of your progressive buddies with you as possible. Everyone will be much happier. There are plenty of events you will enjoy in San Francisco, and you can discuss the barbarity of SoAZ with a more appreciative audience.

  5. I’ve lived here all my life and still love it here. I’m also a staunch conservative but I’m in agreement with the writer that if that were dogs, there would be such an outcry. As I said, I grew up with the rodeo and the parade and it definitely is time to put them “out to pasture”

  6. I see nothing entertaining about abusing animals in a pen that people pay to watch. Promoters pretend Tucson was a “cowboy town” but it has no such history. Remote cattle ranches in Pima County employed cow hands but they rarely got to town. A Hollywood movie set was built outside of town in the 30s, later maintained to lure tourists. Today’s “cowboy” culture is a movie invention for kids popular in the 30s-60s for people to pretend a life that never was.

  7. There was a time when roping calfs and ridinng broncs was necessary. But like drum brakes, it’s time has passed.

  8. There’s a lot of events in a rodeo. I don’t see barrel racing as particularly abusive, for instance, and I’d hate to see the entire rodeo banned. Wrestling the animals, yes, I could do without. You can’t just delete culture, but you could probably take out the abuse w/o too much uproar…

    I’d like to see more frequent beyond one-paragraph depth of thought in the weekly, it’s all been feeling even more ‘sound bite’ than usual, I can read the Star for that (or have they folded yet?)

  9. Welcome to Tucson! I did a quick google search of rodeos in Northern California and you have rodeos there too! Who knew?

    Rodeos are representative of a working culture/lifestyle all over the USA, Mexico and Canada. It is important for people to know about where their food comes from and some of the skills, labor, and history behind it. That is what a rodeo does. It might lead some people to embrace it and it may lead others to reject it and become vegans but the concept and culture behind it is alive and well.

    Old Tucson opened in 1939 and the first rodeo was held in 1925. The Rodeo and western movies are an extension of the wild west shows that toured across the country for decades and were created here in Tucson to draw in tourists and visitors. The rodeo still does with an annual economic impact of over $16 mil a year.

    On a final note, maybe there is a way to add to the rodeo! How about an alternative/complimentary event or conference at the UA, TCC or Pima Fairgrounds that focuses on sustainable agriculture, modern techniques/equipment and exciting new areas of ranching/Ag research?

  10. Bottom line is rodeos are inhumane to farm animals and it would be very progressive for Tucson to move away from rodeos. At least the parts that do the roping and animal stunts.

  11. The ignorance expressed by individuals relating rodeo to “Farm Animals” and “Dogs” obviously are expressing an opinion with absolutely NO clue as to what the rodeo represents or exhibits. They are people drawn to the “OLD WEST” but who then want to change it in to not what created it but what they want to believe it should have been. The events challenge individuals to compete in a test of skill that was and is still required to provide sustenance to the masses. I liken opponents to the history of what created Tucson to ISIS who believe in the erasure of historic elements of the past. EXTREMISTS who should move to Alaska and protest the Iditarod, Oh Yea it’s much more comfortable to fuck with Tucson Tradition. I lived in Tucson 20 years, I’m in Chicago now where 500 kids get shot every year if you really want to save humanity come on up and join me!!!

  13. So let’s see…what else have we eliminated?

    1. Copper
    2. Borders
    3. Language
    4. Common Sense
    5. Private sector jobs
    6. Cattle ranching

    Looks like ethnic cleansing and apologists for our history. Won’t be long now.

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