Editorial: Whoa!

Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002 | 8:57 a.m.

In 1986 seven horses were killed during the chuckwagon races at the Calgary Stampede in Canada, bringing the world's attention to this activity in which horses are regularly injured and killed and cowboys too are at grave risk. Ten years later in Calgary, three horses and a well-known young outrider named Eugene Jackson were killed. This year no fewer than seven horses have been killed on the Canadian chuckwagon circuit. Now, the city of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority are excited about the coming debut of chuckwagon racing here during the first Las Vegas Stampede, scheduled for Sept. 19-22.

The races are scheduled to take place on a temporary track that will be built on the 61 acres of still-vacant land in downtown Las Vegas that someday may contain a medical center and other projects that will boost the city's reputation. Although chuckwagon races date back to the early 1900s and draw huge crowds, we cannot see them boosting the city's reputation among the people Las Vegas is trying to attract as it matures into a world-class city. We wouldn't risk our reputation to host cock-fighting events, even if they were legal in Nevada. We wouldn't host the National Finals Rodeo if injuries to animals were a certainty.

We were embarrassed when a video made here featured homeless people intentionally hurting themselves. We should be equally embarrassed to host an event in which severe injury to animals is an accepted part of a spectacle in which cowboys risk life and limb. The city will earn $100,000 for leasing the land and the expected 10,000 fans will bring business. But is there no act too shameful if the money is right?