Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial backing ban on rodeo! 10-21-24

Pennsylvania:

Today’s Pittsburgh Post Gazette includes an editorial (the newspaper’s opinion) titled “Rodeos might be fun, but not at the cost of our city’s right to rule itself.”

It opens:

“In 1992, after an incident at a rodeo in which a bull had to be euthanized, the city of Pittsburgh banned the use of electric prods, spurs and straps used to drive the bull to buck — effectively preventing any rodeo from being held within the city limits.

“The ban made Pittsburgh an outlier in the state of Pennsylvania. We are the only municipality with such an embargo on the books. It’s the kind of ordinance a city ought to be able to enact, representing the wishes of the city government and voters.

“But, in a strange but not unusual turn of events, a provision was sneaked into the state budget allowing large-scale, nationally operated rodeo companies to select “up to 12 days per calendar year to host a ‘ticketed, public’ rodeo or ‘rodeo-related event,’ even if local rules ban or constrain the events.”

I urge you to check out the editorial, linked above, and send a very quick enthusiastic note of support to the newspaper. Of course, your note should note that rodeos aren’t fun, and briefly explain why if you feel able, but please remember that letters that praise a paper are published far more frequently than those that criticize it, so it is best to speak for animals from a tone of appreciation for the paper’s stand.

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch