Anti-rodeo activists out in Cheyenne

A standard fixture at rodeos across America anymore are animal rights activists, who maintain that rodeo is cruel to animals and inhumane. This week at the vaunted Cheyenne Frontier Days (The grand daddy of 'em all, as the slogan goes), the anti-rodeo crusaders are out in force.

The difference is, they are swimming upstream in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where even the press likes rodeo and its readers could easily be organized into brigades to take them on. How dare you even question our state's biggest sport?

The liberal, sensationalist press in Denver, Houston, Las Vegas and other cities is ripe for the picking by animal rights activists and they are written up like conquering heroes at the rodeo each year. But in Cheyenne, the rebels are gasping for breath, at least locally. And watching their backside.

The facts are that nothing happens at a rodeo that doesn't happen on most ranches across America every day. Cattle must be worked, and horses are used to do it. Calves are roped, wild horses are ridden and broken for riding, and bulls are dodged due to their ferocity. That this daily ritual would be sport for spectators at a rodeo is more like icing on the cake.

The animal rights activists have had an effect, of course. It is riotously funny to hear the rodeo announcers fall all over themselves when a cowboy or animal is hurt at a performance. They go into a memorized monologue, undoubtedly written by the PRCA, about the outstanding medical and veterinary care available on the scene, and the humane, caring approach they take, always ending with "let's have a round of applause for these outstanding professionals performing their humane duties flawlessly . . ."

And now . . .out of chute 7, riding a horse named Applesauce . . .