Madrid – An American rodeo has kicked off its Spanish tour in 'Las Ventas' bullring in Madrid with two shows, the first of twelve stops on their European Rodeo Tour of ten cities. Participating will be the 'fifty best cowboys' of the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association).

The rodeo, which according to the PRCA reflects the relationship between humans and animals on American ranches, consists of various disciplines and sadly the animals exploited in these shows suffer in each one. During the bareback and saddle back bronco, the 'cowboy' must try to mount a horse and tie a rope around her neck while the frightened animal desperately tries to free herself of the rider. In the bull-riding event, the 'cowboy' mounts a bull that has been previously tied with tight 'bucking' straps round his stomach and genitals, causing intense pain which forces him to carry out erratic movements that can dislocate his neck and cause fractures. The calf-roping event features a terrified calf desperately trying to escape while 'cowboys' chase her and bring her crashing to the ground. In the barrel racing, horses are made to run round a circuit of barrels in the fastest time possible.

The animals in this show don't just suffer the stress and anxiety from the fear of not understanding what's happening to them and from finding themselves in a noisy, strange place, but also from receiving blows which cause internal hemorrhaging, torn ligaments and bone fractures. To make the animals appear wild, different techniques are used, for example blows with metal bars, the use of spurs, shocks with electric prods, and whippings.

The organizer of the so-called “Toughest rodeo in the world”, Steve Gander, has himself admitted that the horses and bulls are hit and given electric shocks to make them display supposedly wild behaviour.

Igualdad Animal opposes the rodeo, just as we oppose any other type of show with animals. The idea that other animals can be used to entertain us for our own enjoyment, causing them a great amount of suffering, is based on an unjust, arbitrary form of discrimination known as speciesism, which considers that animals can be used for human benefit for the sole reason that they belong to a different species.