PETITION TARGET: San Diego Lawmakers
After competing in an event at the San Diego Rodeo at Petco Park on January 11, a horse started shaking, collapsed, and died before veterinary treatment could be administered, according to a San Diego Humane Society Facebook post.
Later, it was discovered that the deceased horse was in her third trimester of pregnancy, and her unborn foal also perished.
The year before, in an incident all too common at cruel rodeos, a 6-year-old horse was taken away by ambulance after brutally smashing into a barrier. The event was allowed to occur even following widespread activism to stop it — including LFT’s petition and commentary at a San Diego City Council meeting.
Despite the advocacy of Lady Freethinker and other animal protection groups, as well as community outrage over these tragic incidents, the rodeo is scheduled to return to San Diego in January 2026.
It will be a three-day event, where rodeo stars will compete for thousands of dollars in prize money – all at the expense and suffering of animals.
Horses, baby cows, and bulls used in rodeos often suffer horrific injuries, including broken ribs, pierced lungs, broken necks, and injuries to internal organs, as well as devastatingly painful deaths.
The otherwise gentle animals often have to be harassed to act out in the unnatural “bucking” and high-speed behaviors prized in rodeo arenas — including by being jolted with painful electric prods, stabbed with spurs, or irritated by uncomfortably tight straps around their bodies, according to the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association.
Other layers of cruelty inherent to rodeos include training for grisly events like calf roping by “practicing” on baby cows until they become seriously injured or die, and sending distressed and injured rodeo animals to slaughterhouses.
There’s also the issue of family separation. One of the companies associated with the rodeo noted that foals as young as 6 months old are taken from their mothers, branded, and then put in a pasture where they can “grow up to be outstanding bucking horses.”
LFT supports a ban on rodeos, and we will continue to campaign against this brutal enterprise to ensure that no rodeo is allowed to call the city of San Diego home. Sanctioned animal cruelty should never be tolerated— let alone presented as “entertainment” — and violence committed on defenseless and otherwise gentle animals should never “earn” cash prizes.
Other cities have already passed laws to keep cruel rodeos out of their communities — including Pasadena, Fort Wayne, Ind., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Leestown, Va.
Sign our petition urging San Diego lawmakers to ban rodeos so that this cruelty cannot return to the city.
