LAS VEGAS - With the National Finals Rodeo coming to town, an animal rights group has a message for cowgirls: don't ''saddle'' up with guys who make animals suffer.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals introduced a new, suggestive billboard Friday displaying a picture of a voluptuous blonde wearing a cowboy hat and the saying: ''Nobody likes an eight-second ride. Buck the Rodeo.''
It's a play on how long rodeo cowboys are supposed to stay on their ride, but PETA is going for the sex appeal of the phrase.
''What we're saying is women don't like animal abuse,'' said Kristie Phelps, campaign coordinator for PETA in Norfolk, Va. ''And that a man who can't treat an animal right probably can't treat a lady right either.''
PETA claims animals used in rodeos are tame, docile animals provoked into wild behavior so cowboys can look brave.
The billboard was placed near the Thomas & Mack Center, host of next month's National Finals Rodeo, which runs Dec. 1-10. The same billboard has been erected in Omaha, Neb., but billboard companies in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Tucson, Ariz., rejected the messages.
''It's supposed to be a fun, sexy way to draw attention,'' Phelps said.
''Maybe while they're in the stadium and they see these calves running, having a rope thrown around their neck and it chokes them ... they'll think twice about ever going to rodeos again.''
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which sponsors NFR, isn't worried about the billboards.
''It doesn't change anything,'' said Steve Fleming, spokesman for the association in Colorado Springs, Colo.
PETA protests the rodeo every year. Last year, a PETA member smashed a pie in the face of the newly crowned Miss Rodeo America to protest alleged mistreatment of rodeo livestock.
''It really hasn't had a negative influence on our sport, so we really don't get overly concerned with them,'' Fleming said.
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