‘Wild Pig Chase: A Texas Disgrace’ Ad Heads to Governor’s Mansion

Mobile PETA Billboard Will Also Circle the Capitol Building to Protest Twisted ‘Family’ Events That Torment Pigs

For Immediate Release:
February 10, 2020

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

With the Bandera Ham Rodeo just a month away, a new mobile PETA billboard featuring an image of a screaming pig used in a previous event will circle the Texas Governor’s Mansion, governor’s office, and capitol this week to call on Gov. Greg Abbott to end wild-pig chases, in which people chase, tackle, and terrorize terrified young wild pigs.

“A wild pig feels pain and fear just as much as a dog, a cat, or a human does,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “These cruel spectacles are a blight on the Lone Star State, and PETA is calling on Gov. Abbott to end them.”

Video footage of last year’s Bandera Ham Rodeo shows staff dragging young wild pigs by one or more legs around the arena. Contestants chased the petrified animals; grabbed them by the ears, tail, or snout; lifted them off the ground by the legs; and stuffed them into sacks as they cried out. Many panicked animals leapt face-first into the metal arena fencing as they frantically tried to escape, cutting and bloodying their faces. Children at the event were egged on to participate.

PETA’s other efforts to prevent such unnecessary suffering include meeting with Abbot’s staff, alerting state authorities to violations of Texas law by event organizers, urging sponsors to cut ties with the event, and enlisting Texas native Woody Harrelson to send a letter to Abbott informing him that the wild-pig chase is a “violent spectacle” perpetrated by bullies.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, which is the human-supremacist belief that other animals are nothing more than commodities to use, abuse, and torment at will. For more information, please visit PETA.org.