Mitt Romney, head of the Salt Lake Committee said Thursday he intends to honour a contract to stage a championship rodeo as part of the cultural events of the 2002 Winter Games.
And now animal-rights activists say they are stepping up plans to protest the event at all Olympic competition sites as well as the Legacy Center in Farmington, where the rodeo will be held Feb. 9-11.
Romney, emerging from a meeting with animal-rights activists said, “we are committed to have as safe a rodeo as possible. We’ve received a number of suggestions from the members of the animal-rights community to ensure that this is as safe a rodeo as possible. Unfortunately, members of those groups would like us not to have a rodeo, but we have a contractual agreement with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association which we intend to honour, and we are working hard to make this as safe a rodeo for cowboys and animals as is humanly possible”.
Steve Hindi of the Chicago-based animal-rights group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) said, “this was an opportunity for them to completely remove the largest protest organization in the world”.
Now SHARK, PETA and other organizations say they will ramp up their activities, starting today, by meeting up with the Olympic torch relay in Chicago.
Other demonstrations are planned at IOC headquarters in Lausanne Switzerland and the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs.
Colleen Gardner of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition said, “we are having uniforms designed to wear at the Games, to the grocery store and anywhere else people will see us”.
Davis County officials say they are prepared for the onslaught. Officials recently designated a protest area in a parking lot between the Davis County Juvenile Corrections Facility and the Davis County Juvenile Corrections Facility and the Davis County Fairgrounds, where the rodeo will be held.
