'The real face of the rodeo'
Animal rights groups and members of the public call for an end to cruelty at the Cloverdale Rodeo

Nicholas Read
Vancouver Sun

It only lasted 15 minutes and the issues discussed were general. But for Surrey city council it was a departure. For the first and only time in council history, all eight members of Surrey council and the mayor heard a presentation on alleged cruelty to animals at the city's popular Cloverdale Rodeo.

It happened on Monday. Members of the Lower Mainland-based animal-rights group, the Animal Advocates Society of B.C., presented their concerns to a meeting at city hall.

"They said the rodeo was cruel to animals, and they were very general in touching a lot of the different issues around animal cruelty," said Coun. Diane Watts.

No conclusions were drawn, Watts said, and no policies made. Even so, staff will be asked to prepare a report on the meeting, in keeping with city policy. Yet for a council that had never heard such a presentation before, it was a first glimpse at another point of view.