16-Year Old Killed During Rodeo.

A 16-year old girl was killed during a night rodeo in Florida on Friday.  She was thrown from a bull and kicked once in the chest. She walked out of the ring, collapsed, and stopped breathing shortly after.

Bull riding is a cruel and unpredictable ”sport” where deaths like this are a regular occurrence, in fact, the rodeo circuit averages about two deaths a year.  I’m surprised bulls don’t fight back more often considering that rodeo bulls are hit with electric prods, spurs, and bucking straps to provoke them. 

Many news sources call this most recent death a tragic “accident” but I don’t see anything accidental about it.  A bull was tortured and angered his entire life and a 16-year old was strapped on top of him wearing metal spurs. The bull got angry enough that he eliminated his source of irritation and pain.  The promoters wanted the bull to buck and become angry and that’s exactly what he did. No accident here.

But this is a tragedy.  A 16-year old kid is dead for no reason.  Another person loses their life for a cruel and outdated form of entertainment and the promoters keep profiting off of everyone’s pain.