Activists tackle 'brutal' Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede is being called a “brutal violent spectacle” of animal cruelty by the Humane Society of Canada, which has filed a complaint with Canada’s broadcasting regulator over the airing of the world’s largest outdoor rodeo. The push to have broadcasters phase out the Stampede — which kicks off on Thursday — from their programming is sparking renewed debate over the controversial Canadian event, which in the past decade has been linked to more than two dozen animal deaths. “It’s a form of violent entertainment [in which] animals are abused and exploited,” said Sinikka Crosland, president of the Responsible Animal Care Society in B.C. and executive director of Canadian Horse Defence Coalition. “But because it’s an accepted thing, people don’t tend to look at rodeo with a critical eye.” Rodeo scholar Tamara Palmer Seiler acknowledges this disconnect, describing the Stampede as “a kind of carnival where the world is turned upside down.”...Canada.com