Activists Protest Upcoming Rodeo at Madison Square Garden
The News
Dozens of animal rights activists staged a protest at Madison Square Garden (MSG) to demand that the company cancel a rodeo scheduled for June, 2020. The rush hour protest, organized by the advocacy groups Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund (ACEF), NYCLASS and Lion, attracted the attention of thousands of commuters and tourists entering and exiting Penn Station, a railway station located in the same building complex as MSG. TheirTurn spoke to protesters and pedestrians who stopped to learn more.
“New York City hasn’t hosted a rodeo in 30 years” said Nora Constance Marino, the President of ACEF. “How can Madison Square Garden President Andrew Lustgarten allow this iconic venue in one of the world’s most progressive cities to be used for a barbaric event where animals are tortured? NYC has 16 animal protection bills pending right now. MSG is going in the wrong direction, and vast majority of New Yorkers don’t want this animal abuse in our city.”
Edita Birnkrant, Executive Director of NYCLASS, protests Madison Square Garden over its decision to host a rodeo in 2020.
Madison Square Garden issued a statement to NY1 News defending its decision to host the rodeo
In response, Marino said, “It is remarkable that MSG claims that a rodeo cares about the well-being of animals. Simply observing footage of one completely refutes that notion.”
The Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund and NYCLASS are demanding that the President of Madison Square Garden, Andrew Lustgarten, cancel the rodeo scheduled to take place in June, 2020
A 2017 law that banned the use of wild animals in shows does not apply to rodeos, which use calves, horses and other domesticated animals.
Animal rights activists say that tying up, roping, wrestling animals are acts of violence against baby and adult animals.
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All animals are sentient beings. Respect them. Stop cruelty. Be right. Go vegan!
I wish you godspeed in your campaign to stop this rodeo. To me, rodeos epitomize how far we have NOT succeeded in getting people to empathize with animals and to oppose animal cruelty. A rodeo is so OBVIOUSLY cruel and brutal to the animals, whose faces and eyes always express hopelessness and defeat and fear. It seems like “cowboy culture” is becoming more and more mainstream as a sentimentalized macho “ideal” of American life and a cheesy tribute to “diversity.” What is the Mayor doing about this? Probably, since his Presidential campaign is all about ‘working people,” he supports cowboys the same as carriage horse drivers. Clearly, abused animals are not on his radar.
My family and I will never visit Madison square garden if it’s a location for a rodeo.