Suit: Rodeo Bad For Kids

San Josed Mercury ^ | 10/23/02 | Dan Reed

[marshmallow]

Peggy Hilden won't let her baby grow up watching cowboys. And she doesn't want anyone else's kids doing it either.

In what may be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Hilden, on behalf of her son, Collin, and two animal rights groups are asking a San Francisco Superior Court judge to keep Bay Area schoolchildren from going to the free Grand National Rodeo day for students, which will be held at the Cow Palace on Thursday and may be repeated next year.

[tutstar]

ridiculous

[southern rock]

In the suit, Blatte contends that at the rodeo ``students witness men causing pain to frightened animals.''

I think they have it backwards.

[wild peach]

Notice they don't give statistics on how many cowboys are killed or injured.

[vetvetdoug]

Jeesh!!! Someone needs to keep these women from reproducing.

[vetvetdoug]

In 2000 a bull broke its neck

Someone needs to tell this woman that she ate it at Jack In the Box or Wendy's.

[stylin_geek]

If there are lawyers available to take this suit, then there must be an over supply of lawyers.

[ladyinred]

I think they have it backwards.

LOL! My hubby, (Chadsworth) was a professional rodeo bull rider in his younger years, and believe me, he would totally agree with your statement!

[Billthedrill]

``At least seven of the animals injured since 1982 either died in the arena or were killed as a result of their injuries,'' Blatte wrote. ``In 2000, a bull broke its neck.''

Holy smoke...seven animals in 20 years. Lord knows what these folks must think of horse-racing, NASCAR, or professional football...

I have no personal experience with either calf-roping or bulldogging, but I can speak with passing familiarity of bull-riding, or at least of the bulls involved. Those bulls are pampered. The ropes are not twisted around their genitalia (I'd hate to be the guy to try it!), they are not artificially maddened to buck (they do it just fine all by themselves) and they travel, eat, and sleep in style. They ought to considering what they're worth to the stockman providing them to the rodeo.

[DainBramage]

who focuses all his work on ``animal law,'' fears the violence children may see could upset them

"I suggest we take them all to see a Shwarzeneger movie instead" he shot back.

[LibertyGirl77]

Lady, keep your son Colin home on Rodeo Day and politely suggest his friends' parents do that same. Don't go seeking a court order to impose your parenting choices on everybody else's kids. What's next, outlawing spanking? Oh, wait . . . < disgusted >

[Texas_Jarhead]

Kalifornia - A kook's paradise

[LibertyGirl77]

Let me try that again:

Lady, keep your son Colin home on Rodeo Day and politely suggest to his friends' parents that they do the same. But don't go seeking a court order to impose your parenting choices on everybody else's kids.

What's next, outlawing spanking? Oh, wait . . .

< disgusted >

[hattend]

Peggy Hilden won't let her baby grow up watching cowboys. And she doesn't want anyone else's kids doing it either.

There's the crux of what's wrong with America today. Lawsuit crazy morons.

[PoisedWoman]

Rodeos were among my favorite entertainments as a kid. My dad grew up in the Wild West (Idaho) and always bought tickets for us when the rodeo came to Chicago. We also went to a dude ranch in Colorado every summer...a working ranch, at that, where the cowboys did real cowboy thngs besides entertaining us with roping exhibitions.

My sister was facing amputation of her leg when she was 14 (birth defect) and as a treat, she got to choose a place to go before the surgery to buck up her spirits. Where did she go? You got it, back to the ranch to visit her friends the cowboys who always treated her like the little darlin' she was, taught her to ride and manage a horse tho she was partially handicapped. The cowboys were an important part of her support system, strong men who always did brave things and helped her stayed postive rather than feeling sorry for herself.

If I were a California school kid, I'd hate to be deprived of seeing rodeos. Hell, I'd run away and join the show.

[elbucko]

They ought to considering what they're worth to the stockman providing them to the rodeo.

You got that right. These animals are well cared for, as you say, even pampered. If they close the rodeo, the beef goes to Wendy's and the horses into a can.

The real abuse that annoys me is when horses are kept in 12 ft sq. enclosed stalls. They are usually thoroughbred hunter/jumpers. These horses are ridden by fat old bags once a week. The rest of the time, the horse is confined behind bars.

[Oztrich Boy]

Someone needs to tell this woman that she ate it at Jack In the Box or Wendy's.

Highly unlikely. I think we are in tofu territory here.

[Spyder]

What an idiot. Some of my best memories are of going to the local Sheriff's Posse-sponsored rodeo with my dad as a kid. Never saw one animal injured. Guess we'd better outlaw county fairs as well because they auction off cattle/bulls for (horrors!) beef.

[sean327]

Rodeo stock contractors pamper all of thier animals. Most of the rough stock animals are worth more than the tractor trailers that haul them from arena to arena. When these animals rodeo days are over they are retired to a life of grazing and being hired out as breeding stock for the next generation of rodeo stock. The cowboy takes ten times the punishment these animals do in the arena, and most would be lucky to be able to retire in the style the stock does!