Activists wrestle for animal rights

While thousands of spectators made their way to Pioneer Stadium for Saturday night’s Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo, two members of Weber State University’s animal rights group, Animal Unanimity, held posters in protest of the rodeo’s activities.

WSU student Michael Brown and adjunct math professor Christine Marx represented Animal Unanimity in the first protest of the rodeo’s 77-year history. Brown, who founded the group at WSU, said the nature of the rodeo was disrespectful to the animals involved.

“At its most fundamental level, we trivialize animals,” Brown said. “Conceptually, they have the status as objects, commodities, merchandise. So, because of that, we do all kinds of horrendous things to animals.”

Listing rodeo practices to which the group is opposed, Brown claimed the rodeo does not protect animal rights.

“Before the bulls come out of the chute,” Brown said, “they’ve been caught being punched, electrocuted, tormented and just harassed to make them angry. And obviously, it’s painful. Just because they’re destined to be slaughtered doesn’t justify doing these things to them. The bucking strap is, of course, tightly cinched around their abdomen, and that’s painful, and that’s why they’re bucking. The calf roping is brutal. These are unwilling participants.”

Marx, who acts as the group’s faculty adviser, said that the group worked to ensure its protest would be as effective as possible.

“As a faculty adviser,” Marx said, “I wanted to make sure that we were doing everything legally so that my group wasn’t going to get in trouble. But we wanted to learn how to protest and stand up for the animals, and be effective.”

While few people stopped to talk with the protestors, Marx said the group’s main goal was to raise awareness.

“(We want to) bring awareness to what people are actually witnessing,” Marx said, “and to see that this is not fun for the animals, to see that this is actual cruelty to animals, instead of viewing animals as objects or creatures that don’t have any feelings. We just want to bring awareness to the ethical issues involved as well. We believe that if we can prevent pain and suffering of any kind to anything, that we should do that. We should do our best to prevent any animal, human or non-human, from suffering.”

Rodeo organizers were aware of the protest, and defended the rodeo’s treatment of the animals.

“The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has more than 60 rules and regulations that deal with animal welfare,” said Jeff Haney, a rodeo spokesperson. “The reason is that a cowboy’s livelihood depends on the wellness of their animals. We respect that animal athlete. We want to make sure they are as healthy and well cared for as possible. They are basically the basis of the sport. It wouldn’t do anybody any good, inside this arena or out, to abuse those animals. We respect these animals. We consider their talents, what they’re bred for, what their natural instincts are, and that’s basically what they’re used for.”

Haney also explained that animal welfare is a priority for the rodeo, both in and out of the arena.

“We want to make sure the animals we work with on a daily basis are healthy and well cared for,” Haney said. “The animals get constant care. They get fed every single day. They get watered every single day. They are doctored to all of the time. They are bred to do this. They are healthy. The animals here are very well taken care of.”

The organizers of Ogden Pioneer Days granted Animal Unanimity the protest permit allowing the group to stand outside the arena. Haney explained the principles of the rodeo encourage the exercise of the right to free speech.

“We respect all those opinions,” Haney said. “We may not necessarily agree with them, but one of the reasons Ogden Pioneer Days accommodated the request to have a protest zone was because we believe in the right of free speech. We believe in the tenets on which this country was founded. So when the protest group came to us and said, ‘We would like to have a permit to voice our opinions,’ we granted that request, and we granted it without hesitation.”