Less than 1 percent of show and competing animals at the National Western Stock Show are injured, and great care is taken to keep the animals safe, show staffers and participants say.
“We are concerned about every aspect of the animals’ care,” said Dr. John Maulsby, the Colorado state veterinarian and chairman of the Animal Care and Use Committee for the National Western. “If there is an injury of any sort, the animals are attended to immediately.”
Of the 125,000 animals that appeared at the stock show in 2005 and 2006, including rodeo, livestock and show animals, the injury rate was 0.00025 percent, according to National Western officials.
A Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association injury survey in 2004, taken at 62 rodeos and covering more than 60,000 animal appearances, found 27 injuries for a rate of 0.0004 percent.
But David Crawford, executive director of Boulder-based Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, said there is no way to independently determine what is happening to the animals at the stock show and rodeos.
“We all know about ‘lies … and statistics,”‘ Crawford said. “This sort of self- reporting offers little comfort when it’s done by an industry group.”
The statistics also do not account for mental anguish animal suffer when they are penned, trucked and “forced into confrontation” to compete, Crawford said.
Show participants and planners, however, said the numbers are so low because they take great care to select only the healthiest, strongest and most agile animals to compete.
“The animals are how we make our living,” said Binion Cervi, whose family- operated company supplies and contracts animals for the National Western. “If we don’t have a healthy animal, we don’t earn money. We make sure our animals are in top-of-the-line shape before we even consider them for the stock show.”
Still, animal advocates contend that rodeos and animal competitions are inhumane by their very nature.
Crawford said bucking horses develop bad backs over the long haul and bucking straps are used on the animals to “torment” them into bucking riders off.
“They are treated roughly, some to the point of injury and death,” Crawford said.
Health committee members, veterinarians, owners and cowboys keep a collective eye on the animals, Maulsby said. If one shows a sign of injury, it’s pulled from competition and examined. Those animals aren’t returned to competition unless given a clean bill of health, Maulsby said.
Medicine and science also play a part in limiting injuries, Maulsby said.
Injured animals are sedated and given anti-inflammatory drugs and pain relievers. They are typically taken from the scene on a sled to prevent further injury.
Champion bulls, horses and other animals are studded out and their genetic line continued.
“They breed bulls for their athletic ability and their attitude,” Maulsby said. “It’s become a real science; if you get a good bucking bull, you use his genetics and get more of them.”
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
