Tell the U.S. Army to Buck the Rodeo!

The U.S. Army spends approximately $2 million annually to sponsor the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys' Association (PRCA). Apparently, the Army's goal is to recruit new soldiers by sponsoring cowboys and providing public relations and "pageantry support" for rodeos. This means that American citizens' tax dollars are fueling horrific and cruel rodeo events such as calf roping, steer wrestling, and bull riding.

Often defended under the banner of tradition, rodeos use normally gentle animals such as horses, steer, and calves and provoke them into 'wild' behavior with the use of spurs, tail-twisting, electric prods, and straps cinched tightly around their abdomens. Even when animals aren't injured—and they often are—they still suffer from fear and pain during these events.

Calf roping is an especially cruel event. While running at speeds of up to 27 miles per hour, calves are lassoed around the neck and jerked off their feet. Then they are slammed to the ground. Calves may suffer paralysis, broken bones, and throat and neck injuries. Many of them die. Calves used in rodeos have also become paralyzed from severe spinal cord injuries, and their tracheas have been totally or partially severed.

When they are too old, tired, or injured to continue on the rodeo circuit, most of these animals end up in slaughterhouses. A veterinarian who worked for 30 years as a meat inspector in slaughterhouses described seeing animals used in rodeos who were so extensively bruised that the only areas in which their skin was still attached to the flesh were the head, neck, legs, and belly. He also described seeing animals with punctured lungs, three gallons of blood accumulated under the attached skin, and as many as eight ribs broken away from the spine.

Although the PRCA claims that its "Animal Welfare Rules" protect animals abused in its events, the truth is that the rules are weak and worthless. They are rarely enforced, and when they are, the fines imposed on the cowboys are so paltry that they are meaningless in comparison to the prize money being offered.

Please contact Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and acting Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and ask them to withdraw our government's limited resources from funding cruelty to animals. Feel free to use the following text, but personalized letters always work best. Your message will carry more weight if you write your own customized message and subject line.