Spectacles
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:
Bullfights and rodeos have been banned i n
Sao Paulo, Brazil, scene of more than 100 such events in
1993. The ban took effect in May.
Trying to slow the pace of the Iditarod dog
sled race from Anchorage to Nome, the Iditarod Trail
Committee has eliminated five food dropoff points, to
require mushers to pack heavier loads, and has cut the
maximum number of dogs in a team from 20 to 16. To
make up for sponsorship losses, the entry fee has been
increased from $500 to $1,750.
Hog-dog rodeo promoters in Polk County,
Florida, raised $616.92 on June 12 with which to hire an
attorney to fight state attorney general Bob Butterworth’s
May 6 ruling that the events, which pit dogs against pigs,
are illegal. “It ain’t just about hogs,” said hog-dogger Pay
Powell, of Punta Gorda. “It’s about living.”
Fighting humane criticism of circus acts, the
124th edition of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum &
Bailey Circus includes the Muttville Comix, a comedy act
whose 16 mixed-breed dogs all were rescued from animal
shelters.
Sam Mazzola’s wrestling bear act, rousted
repeatedly by humane and sanitation enforcement in the
northeastern U.S., ran into similar flak on a recent
attempted 20-city tour of Canada. Performances in
Hayden, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, were can-
celled after intervention by the Ontario SPCA and
Wildlife Canada, respectively. Various charges in con-
nection with the bear act are reportedly pending.
Pakistan has promised the World Society for
the Protection of Animals that it will soon ban bear cap-
ture and use of bears in entertainment.
