El Rancho Responds to Animal Cruelty Claims

A misinformed Beirut strikes again.

There’s a petition circulating on the web today campaigning against the rodeos held at El Rancho.

Here’s a snippet: “We, the undersigned, believe that rodeos should be banned from El Rancho, Lebanon. We want to say that we do not support cruel acts inflicted on innocent animals for entertainment.”

But you know how we roll; there’s more than one side to the story.

Beirut.com spoke to Mayda Salem, the assistant sales, marketing and communications manager at El Rancho to clarify the issue: “Each year we get the same complaints, and each year we ask the people at hand to come up for a visit whenever they see fit, and see how the animals are being treated. Three years ago BETA (Beirut Ethical Treatment for Animals), gave us a visit with regards to the same issue, and they couldn’t have been more pleased with what they learned about us.”

To add, Salem says that any events that could be considered potentially harmful to animals have been cancelled.

So you have to wonder: how many people signing this petition have actually been to El Rancho?

Before you sign the petition, pay El Rancho a visit and see for yourself. Rounding up signatures based on a picture and some soppy text isn’t what I’d consider fair play.