Updated: Fri Jul. 10 2009 12:37:38

ctvcalgary.ca

Another animal has died at the Calgary Stampede.

A steer suffered a spinal injury during the steer wrestling event and was euthanized.

We were first told the steer suffered a soft tissue injury. It was sedated and given medication to reduce swelling, but officials later told us that the animal suffered a serious spinal injury and was put down by Stampede veterinarians.

It happened during Thursday's steer wrestling competition.

Cowboy Joey Bell Jr. from Athens, Texas took the steer down, but as the crowd looked on in horror, it did not get up.

The steer was then taken out on a stretcher and moved to a covered area for treatment.

Please Add Comments(42)

Donald K Munroe
Ever since the Humane Society of Canada caved out of their cave to protect the calf-roping event as inhuman, the geatest outdoor on Earth is fast becoming a three ring circus - thanks primarily to HSC, PETA and of course (very subtly) the news media doing the coverage of the 2009 Calgary Stampede.

Hillbillies is so not cool
Disgusting ..... wondering when some of these rodeo events fade into the sunset. Only barbarians, neandrathals and rednecks can really enjoy this in the 21 st century. I think western values and culture can showcase our rodeo history in museums and old western movies.Let's grow up already and join the rest of the progressive planet. Geesh !

twinchin
Nineteenth to early twentieth century. Stampede is passe.

SoBad
Another dead animal, all for entertainment. Too bad we haven't moved on by now.

Reg
Three animals in three days! If this happened on a ranch or farm, the SPCA would be all over it , but, I guess if it happens at the stampede then it's all right. The SPCA needs to get a backbone and start standing up for what it was put here for - The protection of animals!

Say no to Rodeo's
This is totally stupid. Why should animals have to suffer just because the rednecks get their kicks out of it. This rodeo garbage has to end. Maybe a cowboy would like his neck twisted beyond reason or get the so called cowboy to run fast and make him stop quickly with a rope around his neck. Let's see how they would like it. Big men, cowboys think they are, but if the roles were reversed, I bet there would be no rodeo's. Pathetic!!!!!!!!!!

tb, calgary
how many animals have to die for peoples entertainment? Congratulations rodeo lovers for promoting animal cruelty.

JMaxB
The media needs to stop sensationalizing injuries at the Rodeo events. First educate yourself about typical ranch work activities. Write about that first to educate everyone else. Then they can make an informed choice regarding where they stand on this issue. Cattle are raised as a food source for humans. We brand them, castrate them, and then slaughter them so we have roasts and steak. Herd/Prey animals like cows are at the bottom of the food chain for a reason. Let's keep this in perspective

JB
This is inhumane treatment of animals - for sport, a life was wasted. How sad...

Mark in Calgary
Aaaaand cue the bleeding hearts who think the stampede should be shut down.

It is a real shame that an animal was hurt but accidents happen, in any sport.

I don't have much patience for people who want the largest revenue generator for the city shut down but would also complain when taxes go up...

Michael
We were at the rodeo yesterday; that is the first time I have ever seen a steer injured, and I've been to @100 rodeos in my life. The Stampede and the medical people did what they could to help that animal.

Jaime
This is sooo wrong! How many animals have to loose thier lives for our entertainment? How exactly does a parent explain to their child that they have just witnessed an animal being basically slaughtered, for fun?

Steve-O
"...but as the crowd looked on in horror..."

Sounds like the fans got their money's worth. And the animal rights activists should be having another field day with this story. Win-win.

Bruce Thompson
The cowboy in this incident should be disciplined by the Stampede Board. His actions were excessive after he had no chance of winning the event and therefore caused injury/death to the steer.

lisa
For the record, I was in the crowd and did not look "on in horror". Although this was a unfortuante ending it's still better than being eaten by a bear in the wild. I hope I go so peacfully some day.

Brian
Getting really fed-up with this Redneck Calgary Stampede constantly trying to justify these ongoing deaths of the animals!

Greg in Alberta
Greatest outdoor show on earth!
Be sure to bring the children to watch them kill animals!
AND the person who causes the most pain and suffering due to making the finals is rewarded with $50,000.00.Awesome!Join the
21st century Calgary.

Sandy P
Are we really surprised this has happened? Livestock are often seen as expendable and not worthy of compassion like the horses are. At least the audience got to see what can happen for their entertainment. If they choose to return, there is something very wrong with them.

Cindy in Calgary
THIS IS JUST WRONG!!!!WON'T CATCH ME WATCHING THIS TYPE OF CRUELTY EVER!!! SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!!!!!

Sharron
Disgusting,third animal now dead just for peoples entertainment
it just makes me so angry.

Lauren
I am beginning to feel sickened by the fact that we are willing to risk the life of innocent animals just to entertain a crowd. It is absolutely unacceptable to compromise any animal’s safety and these events for me have damaged the integrity of the Calgary Stampede and Calgary's image.

Heather
Rodeos are an example of what happens down on the ranch. Anybody horrified by this death really needs to spend a week or so on any given farm or ranch. This does happen in the real world as well.

If you want your roasts and steaks then you are buying into this happening in real life.

Deal with it unless you are willing to become a vegan.

Becky of Calgary
This and the chuckwagon races s the only things I do not like about Calgary. It's unneccary and cruel and yes where is the SPCA?

Sandi Good
Peter Fricker, spokesman for the Vancouver SPCA

Dear Sir,

I am offended and completely surprised that a society decated to the welfare of animals will not educate yourselves about chuck wagon racing before you offer such offensive comments to the press.

The chuck wagon drivers of the CPCA & the WPCA should be looked upon as an Animal Rescue Foundation for Race Horses. They have saved the lives of well over 100,000 horses from the track that were destined to go to the cans as they did not make the grade as a race horse or were good enough for breeding stock. These drivers do not breed these horses, they SAVE THEM!

These gentlemen take these horses and use them for chuck wagon racing. These horses were born to run, that is all they know and they get to run from the end of May to the beginning of Sept. These horses live a life of luxury, grazing and being in a herd the rest of the year. When their racing career is over they are retired on the ranch as a valued member of the family who has earned his retirement in luxury. None of these horse are ever destroyed bar an accident. Do you have any idea as to how many race horses break their legs on the race track. The chuck wagon drivers have an amazing safety record. Take Tom Glass, in 33 years of racing he only lost 2 horses.

Can you claim that of the dogs you have adopted out? How many have you put down in the last 33 Years? Take a Border Collie. This dog is bred to work all day long, herding. Do you make sure that the home that this dog goes to fulfills his needs that he was bred to do? No you do not. Many of these poor animals live a life in the city grated all day long while their owners work. Then, at night they are again put into the grate to sleep. These dogs live 18 - 20 hours of the day in jail and you tell the owners that crate training is good for the dog!

I believe that you owe an apology to the chuck wagon drivers and place them on your hero list for saving so many lives every year, and letting these animals live a life they were bred to do.

Peter in edmonton
To Mark from Calgary says:
"It is a real shame that an animal was hurt but accidents happen, in any sport.
I don't have much patience for people who want the largest revenue generator for the city shut down but would also complain when taxes go up..."

well first off the animal wasn't hurt it was killed. Second off OIL is the biggest revenue in Calgary, the stampede is just revenue for uneducated carnies. Fact of the matter is it IS cruel and pointless....and tasteless...and idiotic. It makes football look downright intellectual. If we rounded up your dogs and did this kind of thing to them you'd be up in arms. I mean exactly how much of a loser does one have to be to gain a sense of pride from bringing down a calf?

Screw the stampede and taxes? Please Mark wake up: the Stampede costs the taxpayer it doesn't help them.

Peter in Edmonton
To Mark from Calgary says:
"It is a real shame that an animal was hurt but accidents happen, in any sport.
I don't have much patience for people who want the largest revenue generator for the city shut down but would also complain when taxes go up..."

well first off the animal wasn't hurt it was killed. Second off OIL is the biggest revenue in Calgary, the stampede is just revenue for uneducated carnies who spend the rest of the year on E.I. Fact of the matter is it IS cruel and pointless....and tasteless...and idiotic. It makes football look downright intellectual. If we rounded up your dogs and did this kind of thing to them you'd be up in arms. I mean exactly how much of a loser does one have to be to gain a sense of pride from bringing down a calf?

Screw the stampede...and taxes? Please Mark wake up: the Stampede costs the taxpayer it doesn't help them. It generates business revenue which is supposed to help people pay taxes but it costs taxpayer money to hold the stampede....regardless of whether or not you want it.

Peter in Edmonton
Michael says:
"We were at the rodeo yesterday; that is the first time I have ever seen a steer injured, and I've been to @100 rodeos in my life"

Really? Then you haven't been paying attention because this happens EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Try drinking less.

Peter in Edmonton
"Although this was a unfortuante ending it's still better than being eaten by a bear in the wild."

OMG....just stand back and listen to the idiocy. No wonder it's still popular. Calves aren't in the wild sweetie they're on farms. duh.

Jason
What percent of animals are put down because of Stampede? What percent of animals are killed at the packing plant? I think the animals at Stampede have a much better life than they do at the packers. If not load them all up and truck them to the packers. Then Calgary's tourist revenue can dry up and head north to Edmonton.

Peter in Edmonton
lisa says:
"For the record, I was in the crowd and did not look "on in horror". Although this was a unfortuante ending it's still better than being eaten by a bear in the wild. I hope I go so peacfully some day."

OMG what kind of idiot home-schooling were you brought up on. First off the calves aren't in the wild sweetie they're in farms, second off...you'd like to go as 'peacefully' as this someday? You'd like some redneck to come up and twist your head off? That's a peaceful way to go in your mind? Unbelievable.

Peter in Edmonton
I sure hope people aren't bying this line from the mentally deficient posters on this board who claim this hardly ever happens. Just wiki the Calgary Stampede for the stats. The truth is people that an average of 2.5 horse per year die painfully at this 'show' and the entire city including the Herald conspire to keep it quiet. They won't even run ads by the animal humaine society.


Cowboys get a life and get over yourselves. You're day is over...get a real education and a real job.

DAVE S CALGARY
Stop whinning, we all eat beef and this is the way things have been for hundreds of years, this is THE WEST Ya'll
The last part was for the one calling us rednecks

Sue
How many more animals have to suffer in the name of entertainment. Maybe if 3 or 4 cowboys were lost every rodeo attitudes might change. As a native Calgarian I am ashamed of what we consider fun.

sarcasm
as long as we are having fun, who cares about the animal?
As long as the red necks are still happy and making money....

G
Let's see if I can do the voodoo math...the Calgary Stampede gets $2M from the federal gov't ...so thats like about $650K/per dead animal...and still loses money...but of course we still have a few redneck days to go..that stat could change...lol..and they demote a local MP for giving $400K to a Toronto parade that brings in major tourist $$$ and that has cruelly killed 000 animals !! I predict they'll be NO tourists coming to Calgary Stampede in the years ahead until they get into the new millenium like most of the other non-Texan planet.

J
To Peter in Edmonton:

It certainly looks as though you're simply very jealous of Calgarians. We have a great city and maybe you're just so incredibly bitter about that that you feel the need to comment on everyone's comments?

Beside the point...I am not happy an animal died. I do not endorse rodeo as a sport for entertainment; however I do believe it's a way of life back on the ranch and it's been going on for thousands of years.
Maybe it should stay that way.

I'm commenting soely on the steer dying; the horses could have had a heart attack/broken leg just running with their owner in their very own field. I do not think it is anyone at the Stampede's fault that these horses came to an end. It is tragic, but every life has to end; whether it be a heart attack in the stall, on the road, or tripping in a gopher hole or in a race.

H in Calgary
I think there needs to be a difference made between eating meat as most Canadians do and KILLING them for sport. I do not support killing for sport. I do not support killing for entertainment. One of the guys on the news the other day said "he was so sorry - but he loves his animals and thinks of them as children.". What game is that your playing with Bobby and Suzie - Ring around your neck - or Catch you with lasso....STOP THE CRUELTY

lisa
Peter in Edmonton Thanks for your comments, it makes it obvious you haven’t thought the whole problem through. If calves weren’t raised for your dinner plate they would only exist in the wild. In most cases they would struggle everyday to find enough to eat in a land where any habitat that could support them is quickly being turned into Urban Sprawl and in the end they would die a violent death at the hands of another animal. Instead we’ve got animals who live a cushy life with health care, plenty of food and protection from the wild and then in most cases meet their end in a fast, painless means. It’s true that 3 days out of their lives they may end up at the Stampede where again they are well taken care of and offered the highest standard of medical care (higher than what you and I can get in most cases). If by some unusual circumstance they are permanently injured they are quickly euthanized in a manner more humane than what most Humane Societies employ.
I wasn’t homeschooled as you like to think and I’m certainly not red neck but I do like to consider the consequences of what I say before I go lambasting others for something I don’t understand and am not educated about. You should try it some time.
lisa

Don
Hopefully, I will hera about some soft tissue injuries in the cow boy world. This is disgusting and more people ned to say so...even if it is Calgary tradition. As prises are raisde, more is at stake and more animals die. It has gone too far and times have changed. Time to think more modern.

german
Funny you people are okay with having jobs created by the money coming in from the stampede. These are accidents. Same happens in horse racing from time to time. Go try to get that banned too.

LMH
I am assuming all of you bleeding hearts are vegetarians.

If not do you "look on in horror" as you eat that giant steak time and time again.

But I guess it's ok to kill animals as long as you get to eat a nice meal.

No doubt the rodeo animals have a much better life than that of whatever that 20 oz hunk of beef you ate last weekend was.

Get off your high horses people.

truredneck
Dear Peter in Edmonton,

You are the reason that i refuse to accept 'd'edmonton as a real town. you are just a bunch of wannabes. The Stampede is the heartbeat of alberta and these animals are treated better than i think you have treated your kids. Sure a few animals die due to unforseen events but the steak you eat every night has to come from somewhere!!!