“I really like cowboys,” an animal rights activist told writer Michael Parfit, “but they should be arrested for what they do to animals.”

Do you agree? Do rodeos subject animals to pointless cruelty? Or is pain—for humans as well as animals—simply part of the drama as cowboys strive to excel at their craft?

Read Parfit’s essay and share your thoughts in our forum. You can also enjoy his article “Rodeos—Behind the Chutes,” reproduced from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine.

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