CETFA Foundation

As Alberta rodeos scramble to adjust to the Texas "livestock" ban, one thing is glaringly absent from the conversation: animal welfare.

This CBC story focuses on border rules, animal "athlete" logistics, and quarantine timelines — but not on the animals themselves who are forced into violent, high‑risk events for entertainment. Horses are treated as equipment to be swapped, borrowed, or replaced. Their fear, injuries, and deaths aren’t even part of the discussion.

And yet every year at the Calgary Stampede, animals die. Horses suffer catastrophic injuries in chuckwagon races. Bulls are spurred, roped, and forced into bucking through pain and fear. Calves are chased, thrown, and tied at high speed. These are not harmless traditions — they are inherently cruel.

The fact that a flesh‑eating parasite outbreak is receiving more concern than the routine suffering of animals exploited in rodeos underscores just how profoundly their welfare is overlooked.

Rodeos are dangerous for animals. They always have been. And until we stop treating their lives as expendable, the cruelty will continue.

Source: CBC, June 9, 2026