Comments on the data and on the analysis of

Dr. Jean-Jacques Kona-Boun by veterinarians and ethologists

 

 

As a board-certified veterinarian for over 20 years and the current President of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association and Past President of the Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics, I was deeply troubled by the video and still image footage provided for me to review by observers of the recent Quebec Rodeo event. The frequency with which animals appear to undergo real, probable or potential physical injuries is alarming to say nothing of the signs of fear and pain many of these animals demonstrate during some of the roping and bucking events. That we are still debating animal sentience in 2018 is truly disheartening. Based on my review of this material it is undeniable that animal welfare is seriously compromised and that many of the rodeo events, by their very nature, would be impossible to undertake without creating a genuine risk for a wide range of animal injuries

 

Dr. Gary Block, DVM, MS, DACVIM, Current President of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, Past President of the Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics, Past Delegate to the American Veterinary Medical Association

 

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Forcing animals into situations where they show obvious signs of extreme distress and risk entirely avoidable injuries is too great a price to pay for human glory and entertainment.

 

Dr Paul McGreevy, BVSc, Ph.D, Veterinarian and Ethologist, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Australia

 

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The rodeo is unquestionably brutal, life-threatening and all too often life-ending for the animals involved.  That this activity is marketed as sport is equally concerning.  Shall we adults take pleasure in animals’ pain and suffering?  Shall we teach our children that this behavior is not only acceptable but entertaining?  The link between abuse of animals and abuse of people is well-established.  Activities that terrify and harm animals such as rodeo must be viewed through this lens as well.

 

 Dre Joann M. Lindenmayer, DVM, MPH, Dipl. American Veterinary Epidemiology Society (Hon.); Chair, Leadership Council of Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association

 

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The rodeo video footage shows calves, adult cows or horses being thrown to the ground, crashing into barriers and physically assaulted in multiple ways. The apparent normalcy of these practices within rodeos does not alter the biological reality that some of these practices are physically and psychologically abusive – and indeed, markedly so. In just one example a calf’s neck is violently twisted approximately 180 degrees. Such mishandling risks serious injuries and can cause severe stress and fear in the affected animals. Given modern understanding of animal sentience and of their capacity to suffer, these practices can no longer be justified for the entertainment of some people.

 

Dr Andrew Knight, BVMS, CertAW, MANZCVS, DipECAWBM (AWSEL), DipACAW, PhD, FRCVS, SFHEA, Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics; Founding Director, Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Winchester, UK

 

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The Quebec National Assembly is to be congratulated for representing both scientific and popular opinion in its recognition in law of animal sentience. I am a Canadian veterinarian in practice for almost 50 years. I have also written many books on animal behaviour that are underpinned with the accepted knowledge that animals have internal mental lives. It is apparent in the video and stills I have viewed from the Montreal and St-Tite Rodeo events that the welfare and safety of calves, steers and horses was compromised. The animals display behavioural signs of significant distress. Rodeos are part of my cultural history. Cultural change is difficult; but to deny what I see in the video and stills would be the same as denying all that has been learned about animal behaviour in recent decades.

 

Dr Bruce Fogle, MBE DVM (Guelph) MRCVS, Chair, Humane Society International

 

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The numerous scientific studies showing that animals have feelings have made it possible to pass a law protecting them and their well-being, so is it right to still be seeing so-called « recreational » activities for humans that endanger the mental and physical health of these animals ?

 

— Mylène Quervel-Chaumette, PhD., Ethologist, Director, Éthope

 

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In view of the obvious signs of distress of the animals used in the rodeos, it is difficult to justify inflicting such a fate on them under the guise of « sport » or entertainment. The idea that animals subjected to such stress, without consideration for the physical risks and the fear generated, can be considered athletes who are ‘happy’ to participate — is disconcertingly naïve.

 

— Marine Cassoret, PhD., Animal Behaviorist

 

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From a scientific point of view, the physical, physiological and behavioral indicators measured to evaluate the well-being of equines and cattle used in rodeos go against their biological imperatives. Physical indicators, such as injuries, physiological symptoms such as hyperthermia, and behavioral indicators such as bucking lead to the conclusion that the welfare of these animal beings is compromised in such activities.

 

— Anik Boileau, MSc., Ethologist, Director, CERSI

 

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I am a board-certified veterinarian in the field of emergency medicine and critical care. I have also owned horses and goats for most of my life. I feel very comfortable in my understanding of the ways that certain types of trauma cause injury and pain to animals, and very comfortable in my ability to recognize pain or distress in large animals. The footage and photographs I have seen of the Quebec rodeos were shocking. I have seen small town rodeos or gymkhanas where the animals were subjected to some stress, but these rodeos in particular demonstrated a level of disregard for animal stress or potential injury that I have not seen. Rodeos are supposed to be a form of entertainment – and in this day and age, subjecting animals to this type of stress for the purpose of entertainment should not, in my opinion, be tolerated. Horses falling on their knees, or trying to climb through a gate, or taking sharp turns so quickly that their hindlimbs slide out from under them – these pose real risks of orthopedic injury which in horses can be a death sentence. Calves getting lassoed around the neck when running full speed, and then dragged by that same rope are having tremendous stress applied to their cervical vertebrae – but the clear distress they were showing should not be entertaining to anyone.

 

— Dre Justine Johnson, DVM, DACVECC, Ocean State Veterinary Specialists

 

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I am most disturbed by the rodeo events captured in the videos and photographs from Dr. Kona-Boun’s analysis of the 2017 Montreal and St-Tite rodeos. The evidence of causing risk to the animals’ health is undeniable. For example, the calf roping event depicts extreme strangulation of calves (as shown by neck angulation) from the moment they are roped to the moment they are slammed to the ground. Extreme tension to maintain the state of strangulation is continued beyond dismounting by the cowboys and into a full calf drag for several meters. In addition, the severity of the force used to throw the calves to the ground leads me to strongly suspect pulmonary and rib bruising, whether clinical or subclinical. Those two activities alone are already clear causes of risk to the calves‘ health.  The steer wrestling event shows neck torsion of up to180 degrees. This causes abnormal torsion and torque on a neck with seven vertebrae which have both large spinal and transverse processes, thus decreased mobility of that body part. Such torsion and torque clearly cause risks to the steers’ health. Photos depict bulls and calves with a tight rope across their eyeballs, eyelids both open and closed, which inflicts unquestionable pain (rope burn and oculocardiac reflex). The deliberate and strong whipping of horses — i.e. beating them with a whip — is an act to inflict pain. No further comments; this is so self-evident.The above observations regarding the 2017 rodeos (St-Tite and Montréal) held in the province of Québec are just a small sample of the activities taking place at such rodeos that impose gratuitous risk to animals’ health. This is all the more disturbing as it is being done for the purposes of entertainment.

 

— Dre Judith Samson-French, DVM, MSc, President of Foundation Animal Wellness Initiatives, and owner of Banded Peak Veterinary Hospital, Canada.

 

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Ce contenu a été mis à jour le 4 mai 2018 à 17 h 26 min.