Buck the Rodeo...

OK...how is this for proving your manhood. This guy can beat up a BABY ANIMAL. Elephant Polo, Donkey Basketball, Greyhound racing, Cock fighting, PitBull Fighting, Bull Fighting whats next? Kitten Wrangling with burlap sacks and rocks? Can't you just let Mike Tyson make an ass out of himself without coercing animals into doing it? Urge Starbucks to Buck the Rodeo! Starbucks Corporation has faced intense public scrutiny recently for sponsoring various rodeos and rodeo organizations, including Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming, the Miss Rodeo Washington Association, the PRCA Belton Rodeo, and the Calgary Stampede. In some instances, Starbucks donated money; in others, it donated beverages. Regardless of the nature of the donation, the company that’s been heralded for its progressive policies and hot coffee is suddenly alienating consumers through its affiliation with cruelty to animals. Rodeos are a cruel form of “entertainment.” Every national animal protection organization opposes rodeos because of the events’ inherent cruelty. Rodeo promoters say that the animals are wild and rough, but without the use of spurs, tail-twisting, and bucking straps cinched around their abdomens, these frightened and usually docile animals wouldn’t even buck. They are often terrorized when participants shock them with electric prods, twist their necks, yank them by their tails or legs, slam them to the ground, or otherwise batter them. Following a life of confinement, abuse, pain, and fear, the final destination for most of these animals is the slaughterhouse. The Calgary Stampede, a 10-day annual rodeo and exhibition that boasts hideous events such as chuckwagon races, bears responsibility for the deaths of at least nine horses in July 2005 alone. Animals have fallen, drowned, jumped to their deaths, and sustained injuries severe enough to require euthanasia.