🐷Letter of the Week - 18th June, 2023 🐷
Our letter of the week is to support the campaign by Farm Transparency Project to ban the use of gas chambers at pig slaughterhouses.
SUGGESTED ACTIONS
1. Contact Cairns Convention Centre, the venue for a rodeo this weekend and tell them how upset and angry you are that they are hosting a bull riding event on the 22nd July, and that you urge them never to allow bull riding or rodeo events to occur again at the Cairns Convention Centre due to the cruelty and risk to the animals involved!
- Remind them that bulls are not having fun.
- Ask them to introduce a policy not to allow activities that involve animal cruelty to be allowed at the venue.
We believe that all Queensland Government venues need to introduce a policy that prohibits activities deemed cruel or include a high risk to the safety of animals. Animal activities do not need to be illegal to be cruel.
Please take a look at the letter below, which we suggest you change before sending, and make it your own.
Email: Cairns Convention Centre CEO, Janet Hamilton - jhamilton@cairnsconvention.com.au
cc - events@cairnsconvention.com.au
2. Please cc your email to the following people
i) At least one Cairns or Queensland media outlet.
See contacts below.
ii) Monster Energy, who is funding the bull riding event.
Please email Ben Bartlett, a senior marketing manager for Monster Energy in Australia. You can text him as well.
bbartlett@monsterenergy.com
Mobile – 0401 928 607
ii) The Qld Minister for Tourism, Stirling Hinchcliffe, has jurisdiction over government event venues. You could send a separate letter to ensure you receive a reply.
email - tourism@ministerial.qld.gov.au
3. Call the Cairns Event Centre and ask them "why they are supporting animal cruelty?"
(07) 4042 4200
4. Suggested Letter – make your letter short and to the point. Always be polite.
Dear Ms Hamilton,
I am contacting you about the bull riding event you are holding at the Cairns Convention Centre.
I would like to know why you allow a cruel activity to be held at the Convention Centre when you know that Australia's largest animal welfare organisation, the RSPCA, opposes rodeos due to the potential for significant injury, suffering, and distress to the animals involved.
Rodeos are not fun for animals. The most reputable animal advocacy groups in Australia and worldwide, including Animals Australia, the Humane Society International, and the Animal Defenders Office, all condemn rodeos and call for an outright ban.
Many regions worldwide have banned rodeos due to the inherent cruelty, including the ACT, the UK, Auckland City on Council land, various areas of Europe, and the USA.
I urge you to introduce a policy prohibiting activities animal welfare authorities consider cruel. Just because an action is legal does not make it ok. Often laws take decades to catch up with public opinion and the knowledge of experts; this is one such case.
I look forward to hearing that you have made a compassionate choice and introduced such a policy for the future; after all, the Queensland Government owns the Cairns Convention Centre, and it should not be condoning and promoting activities involving animal cruelty.
5. Please join our new Facebook group - One Action a Week, where we support pressure campaigns to make positive changes for animals where ever and whenever we can. https://www.facebook.com/groups/224593413652548
Media Outlets in Cairns The Cairns Post - editorial@cairnspost.com.au
ABC Far North Qld - farnorth@abc.net.au
Cairns community radio FM 89.1 - info@cairnsfm891.org.au
Win News Cairns - cairnsnews@winnetwork.com.au
The Guardian - australia@theguardian.com
MORE INFOMATION
Visit the below website to learn more about bull riding and rodeos.
Animals Australia - https://animalsaustralia.org/our-work/rodeos/background/
Animal Liberation Queensland - https://rethinkrodeos.com/
TELL THE CAIRNS CONVENTION CENTRE TO STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY, written by Bee, who runs the newly formed Coast to Coast Animal Friends branch - https://veganpossum.com/cairns-bull-riding-cruelty/...
The RSPCA on rodeos - https://kb.rspca.org.au/.../what-are-the-animal-welfare.../
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (USA) - https://aldf.org/art.../rodeo-facts-the-case-against-rodeos/