BANDERA COUNTY, Texas — A controversy over chicken has some animal rights advocates calling out The Cowboy Capital of the World.
Tracy Frank is the founder of the Society for Animal Rescue and Adoption and has over 700 animals housed at her animal sanctuary outside of Seguin.
Frank took to Facebook this week, calling out Bandera’s Cowboy Mardi Gras celebration over a Chicken Toss event scheduled for this weekend that she called “disturbing.”
She said she was made aware of the event from a friend, who described the event as cruel.
Frank referenced a Youtube video from a “chicken toss” event from another state where the fowls were thrown off a rooftop into the crowd below, and caught by the bystanders.
“I just don’t want to see any animal abused or tortured and a lot of people seem to think chickens don’t have brains or sense of what’s going on and they do, they’re intelligent,” said Frank.
However, some Bandera residents like Pat Godkin, say the information posted on social media is all wrong.
She said the town has a band of chickens roams the town and residents here are used to seeing them around town.
“What they do is they take a chicken that runs loose up here, and they tie a $100 bill to its leg, and the people throw corn and other enticements at the chicken so they can pull the 100 dollar bill off,” said Godkin.
Godkin is an animal advocate herself, as founder of A Doggie 4 You rescue and said she was appalled to hear that anyone would accuse her animal loving town of cruelty and abuse.
“The chickens are a big part of our heritage here and to imply that anyone is going to sit here and watch them be cruelly manipulated that’s just ludicrous,” said Godkin. “The residents wouldn’t stand for it.”
A similar controversy happened last year when animal rights groups called out the town’s Bacon Bash event where wild hogs are caught in an area by participants.
Nick Barron is with the Bandera Wranglers, the organizers of the event, and said he always invites people to come to the event and see for themselves that the animals are not mistreated.
“A lot of people’s public opinion is due to a lack of information or ignorance from never having seen the event,” said Barron. “These animals are taken care of.”
Frank said she put the call to action on Facebook because she just wants to see what’s right for the animals.
“It doesn’t seem like in 2020 that we should have this kind of cruelty spectacle as entertainment,” she said.
KENS5 spoke to the owner of the 11th Street Cowboy Bar in Bandera where the Chicken Toss event was scheduled to take place.
He said the event has been cancelled, saying he didn’t want the controversy to overshadow Bandera’s Cowboy Mardi Gras event because it raises thousands of dollars for the community.
Despite the controversy last year, the Bacon Bash, renamed the Bandera Ham Rodeo, will go on next month, March 13-14 in Bandera at Mansfield Park.