Nicholas Read
Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

CLOVERDALE - The B.C. SPCA is demanding a retraction from the Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Association, saying the association has implied in press releases that the SPCA condones the annual rodeo.

"My reading of it is that they're deliberately trying to imply that we sanction this event, and that's not true," says SPCA spokeswoman Lori Chortyk.

At issue is the following statement made in an association press release about animal welfare: "The Cloverdale Rodeo & Country Fair also has the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in attendance at all rodeo performances and has a professional working relationship with the society."

To Chortyk and senior animal protection officer Eileen Drever, that implies erroneously that the SPCA approves of the annual Surrey event, which begins this weekend.

"Yes, we have met with them in the past, but our goal for them is to stop the rodeo, period," Drever said. "We do not have a professional working relationship with them. If they were concerned about animal welfare, the rodeo would not be happening at all."

Rodeo association spokeswoman Laura Balance said the fact that the SPCA is permitted on the rodeo site to inspect the animals before and after shows, means the association and society do have a professional relationship. She also said the association was not trying to create any false impression and that it was not overstating its association with the SPCA.

"I don't think that statement gives any impression one way or the other," Balance said.

Chortyk says SPCA officials do attend the rodeo, but in plain clothes so as not to alert the rodeo or spectators to their presence.

"We don't let them know our plans because we don't want them to know when we're coming," she said. "We don't want them to infer that we're part of this event."

She wants the association to issue a new press release correcting what she says is a deliberate falsehood.

Meanwhile the Vancouver Humane Society is planning to fly an aerial banner over the rodeo for an hour each day saying: "Rodeo is cruel."
© The Vancouver Sun 2005