Editor:

Starr Sackstein chides the rodeo protesters for claiming that the rodeo was cruel to animals (Feb. 28). She points out that from her experience, the animals were "well fed and hardly overworked." She quotes from an industry statement that claims the electric prod used to make the bulls buck produces "a mild shock but no injury... and the prod must be used as little as possible."

Regardless of whether one should blindly trust statements by the rodeo profession itself, I ask Sackstein to use a little common sense. Namely: 1) Bulls don't buck around violently when they're in the field. It's not their natural state. 2) So if a bull is bucking around, it's either in pain, or, at least, really frustrated and angry.

Taunting animals to the point where they fling themselves violently on command is cruel, whether they're well-fed or not. Electrically shocking animals, even if it doesn't burn or scar, is mean. Starr, if someone prodded you to jump around for their amusement, wouldn't it be wrong € even if they fed you at a buffet ahead of time? How would you feel?

Future generations will look back on rodeo and wonder how we could be so primitive.

Jonathan Kandell

English Department program assistant

Jonathan Kandell
English Department program assistant