Excellent letter by Barbara Mattin and good for her for speaking up. I woke up this morning to a headline story on CBC national radio promoting the Calgary Stampede (great FREE ADVERTISING for animal cruelty CBC!) The reporter talked about (among other fluff) the Stampede being promoted worldwide and about how the 'Stampede brand' is protected. At the start of this year's Stampede, I saw the lady who was reading the news on CBC Television's 'The National' announcing the start of the Stampede with a huge smile on her face and a sound of excitement in her voice (the CBC can often be nauseating).

Pressure should be put on CBC to develop a policy about humane issues because the corporation is often complicit in promoting animal cruelty. In the spring of 2005 I filed an official complaint with the CBC ombudsman because of our local CBC affiliate promoting the controversial Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race (motto is "the toughest sled dog race in the world"). In response I received some juicy statements by one of the CBC brass in the north which the corporation is probably very embarrassed to see on the sleddogwatchdog.com web site:

http://sleddogwatchdog.com/yukonquest_media_darling.html

http://sleddogwatchdog.com/cbc_supporter_of_animal_cruelty.html

http://sleddogwatchdog.com/2006_2007_quest_race_comments.html

Is the CFHS (Canadian Federation of Humane Societies) doing anything to discredit the Stampede?